


Hope in a Flash

by hunter139



Category: Arrow (TV 2012), DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV), RWBY, Supergirl (TV 2015), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Crossover, Fix-It of Sorts, Multi, Multiverse, One-Shots, Pyrrha Nikos Lives, Violence, With some continuity, lots of characters, more to be added - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-10
Updated: 2020-02-23
Packaged: 2021-02-28 00:53:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 22,953
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22655038
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hunter139/pseuds/hunter139
Summary: They thought it was destiny. They never realized that destiny could be altered in a flash. A single unexpected variable can make all the difference in the world. *Spoilers for Volume 3 Episode 12 and after* Multi-shot fix fic.
Relationships: Barry Allen/Iris West, Jaune Arc/Pyrrha Nikos
Comments: 1
Kudos: 5





	1. Beacon

Just outside Beacon, Nora, Ren and Sun watched over the prone forms of Blake and Yang. The former was barely clinging to consciousness while the latter was out cold. Everything had gone to hell so far: The Grimm had invaded Vale, Beacon was under assault by the White Fang and now, Ruby and Weiss had left in order to find Jaune and Pyrrha.

"That's it." Nora said. "I'm not waiting anymore, I'm going to help them!"

Ren nodded in agreement, and the two of them moved to get up, only for their injuries to act up, causing them both to groan in pain.

"You guys aren't going anywhere." Sun said sternly. "Ruby and Weiss can handle themselves." He said, much less confident in this case. "I hope." He muttered.

Blake lifted her head slightly, her gaze shifting to something past the landing pad. Her eyes widened in surprise.

"Does anyone else see that?" She pointed down towards the bottom of the cliff causing everyone nearby to turn in confusion.

What they saw shocked them all: from what they could see, it almost looked like some sort of portal or breach in the middle of the air. Much like the portal Weiss had recently used to summon that sword arm, but it looked like it was in a state of flux, ironically also looking more natural.

"What... is that?" Ren said in shock. For once, Nora had no words.

The breach was blue-white in colour, and was constantly shifting. It was like nothing anyone had ever encountered on Remnant. Eventually others started to notice the breach as well, the evacuation almost halting as people tried to take a look. Even Professors Port and Oobleck were drawn to what everyone was looking at.

"My word," Oobleck muttered. "What a shocking scientific anomaly!"

Before Port could respond, another flicker of movement caught everyone's attention as the portal disgorged someone. It seemed to be a human, clad in some sort of red bodysuit. The man looked around seemingly confused at his surroundings before looking straight up at the landing pad.

"Who is that?"

"Where did he come from?"

"Is he part of the White Fang?"

These were the mutterings of all the witnesses, which were abruptly cut short when the massive Grimm Dragon flew overhead. That got everyone moving again.

"Everyone move along." Port said. "No need for pushing, there's enough room for everyon-"

His order was interrupted when a streak of yellow lightning emerged from underneath the landing platform, moving past everyone at an impossible speed, causing a brief wind to form in its wake.

"Onto the ships." Oobleck ordered, more sternly this time. "No time to waste."

None of Team RWBY or JNPR were in a rush to follow that order however, as they noticed that the portal had vanished, the man had disappeared, and the lightning was heading in the same direction as Ruby and Weiss.

* * *

Weiss watched as Ruby scaled her glyphs up to the top of the tower. She could only hope her team leader could get up there in time before Pyrrha got herself killed. Considering how Jaune sounded on her Scroll, Weiss could only imagine how he was feeling right now.

Jaune was Pyrrha's leader, and yet she was fighting alone against Cinder, the murderer who was responsible for this whole mess. If Pyrrha died, the Schnee heiress was terrified that Jaune would never forgive himself, even though it wasn't his fault that Pyrrha went in alone.

As Ruby approached the top of the tower, Weiss heard the Grimm approaching behind her. She turned to regard the threat when something unbelievable happened. A streak of yellow lightning plowed through the approaching Grimm, sending dozens of them flying.

While the Schnee heiress was surprised at this, what was more surprising was that the lightning didn't stop, running past her at speeds even Ruby couldn't hope to match. Spinning around, Weiss was able to catch a glimpse of the seemingly sentient lightning just as it vanished over the precipice of Ozpin's destroyed office.

* * *

In the office itself, Cinder Fall had just finished a brutal beatdown against Pyrrha Nikos. The champion from Mistral had put up a valiant fight, Cinder couldn't deny that. Ozpin would've been proud if he had seen it.

Still, Pyrrha was no match for the powers of the Fall Maiden, and now she was on the floor, beaten and broken, having taken an arrow through her heel. Cinder circled the fallen champion, creating her obsidian bow as she walked in front of her.

"It's unfortunate you were promised a power that was never truly yours." Cinder knelt down and lifted Pyrrha's chin, staring into her eyes and smiling wickedly. "But take comfort in knowing that _I_ will use it in ways you could never have imagined."

Pyrrha pulled away, sitting up and steadily matching Cinder's own gaze.

"Do you believe in destiny?" Was all she said.

Cinder frowned and her eyes narrowed. A single tear appeared before she blinked it away.

"Yes."

There was nothing more to say. Cinder cocked her bow and had an arrow pointed at Pyrrha's heart, while the young champion was on her knees and helpless. Dimly, the two warriors became aware of Ruby's arrival in the ruined office, but there was nothing she could do to stop this. With a wicked grin, Cinder let go of the bowstring.

No one on Remnant could've predicted what happened next.

All Cinder and Ruby saw was a streak of yellow lightning as Pyrrha... simply vanished. The new Fall Maiden's eyes widened as her target disappeared and her arrow flew off the edge of the building. For once, Cinder was at a loss to explain what happened.

Then everything went wrong when Ruby screamed.

"PYRRHA!"

* * *

Jaune ran through the deserted streets of Vale, ignoring all the sounds around him. His only goal was to get back to Beacon immediately. His heart was pounding as he ran, but he ignored as he focused on his one goal.

His mind was racing, his thoughts spinning like a hurricane. Yet there was one thing that stood in the eye of the storm, the one thing that granted clarity in his mind.

_Pyrrha._

He had to get back to her. Jaune didn't want to lose her after all that happened today. Pyrrha had been his closest friend since he arrived at Beacon. She was the only who knew that he had faked his transcripts into Beacon. She was his partner, who he had trusted with his life time and time again.

He had done all he had could to help raise her spirits even though she wouldn't tell any of them what was bothering her (though now, Jaune had a pretty good idea as to what it was). He had stood by her Ozpin was putting her through that process and had tried to defend her when that Cinder woman showed up.

And when she had kissed him... Jaune didn't know how he had been so blind. To both her feelings and his own.

The raging storm in his head was halted when, suddenly, a bright silver-white light erupted from the direction of Beacon, momentarily blinding him and every human, Faunus and Grimm nearby.

"PYRRHA!" He shouted.

When the light disappeared, Jaune could see the massive Grimm Dragon perched on the side of the tower. Strangely, it seemed like the massive creature had been... frozen. But that observation meant little to him, as he knew there was no way that Pyrrha could've survived if she was still up there.

Falling to his knees, Jaune could do nothing but stare helplessly at the sight of Beacon's main tower. He felt a void growing in his chest as it slowly dawned on him that he lost the person he hadn't realized he had been in love with until today.

That void lasted for all of five seconds before a streak of yellow lightning blasted past him, with the resulting jet stream forcing him to shield his eyes. Then he heard someone groaning in pain, followed by a familiar voice saying his name.

"Jaune?"

"Pyrrha?"

His heart threatened to leap through his chest when he saw that she was alright, though it nearly broke when he got a look at the extent of her injuries. Leaning against a wall, with blood leaking from her heel and her Aura completely drained; She looked like she had just been through hell, and considering her opponent, she probably had.

"Oh god, Pyrrha." Jaune whispered, rushing towards the redhead as she struggled to stand.

He wrapped his arms around her and she reciprocated. "Are you alright?"

She shifted in his grip, gingerly supporting herself in his arms. She groaned as she tried to stand on her injured leg, drawing Jaune's concerned gaze to her face. When their eyes met, her expression softened.

"I'm fine now." Was the only thing she said.

They were silent for a moment before Jaune kissed her, and in an interesting reversal from earlier, she was the one who was surprised at the gesture, before her hands cupped his face and she deepened the kiss.

Relieved, she melted into his embrace. The two of them stayed that way for a long time and both felt like they could stay there forever. The moment was lost when they heard growling behind Jaune.

Opening her eyes, Pyrrha broke off the kiss and gasped when she saw four Beowolves and an Ursa approaching them. Spinning around, Jaune quickly pulled out his sword while also supporting Pyrrha with one arm, but it was clear he was outmatched, and she herself had sustained too many injuries to fight any further.

Before the Grimm could do anything, the yellow lightning returned, sending all five of the Grimm creatures flying. Once that was done, the lightning abruptly halted, revealing the source to be a single human.

He was clad in a red full body suit, with yellow accents around his waist, and strange lightning bolt-like antennas emerging from the mask that covered most of his face, leaving only his eyes, nose and mouth uncovered. A strange symbol sat on his chest: a yellow lightning bolt inside a white field within another yellow circular outline.

"Are you guys okay?" The Scarlet Speedster asked. He had a very young voice, yet still older than most of the students at Beacon.

They could only nod in muted shock. They had never seen anyone with this type of power before. Even Ruby couldn't move that fast with her own semblance, but something told Pyrrha that this was not an ability created by this man's soul.

"Ok, good." The speedster replied. "You need to get somewhere safe." He briefly turned his head before Pyrrha interrupted him.

"You were the one who saved me?" He nodded, with a look of confusion.

"Why?" She asked. "And how did you even know anyone was up there?"

The man in red opened his mouth to reply when he heard a small thunderclap behind him, and saw Jaune and Pyrrha looking past him. Turning his head, the speedster saw a blue-white portal opening several blocks away.

"Zoom." He whispered, before turning back to the two teens. "I have to go." He said sadly. "I'm sorry."

"Wait!"

"Hold on a second!"

But it was too late. Their shouts followed the costumed hero as he seemingly turned into lightning and vanished into the vortex. Less than a second later, the portal sealed, leaving no trace of his existence.

"Jaune! Pyrrha!"

The two teens turned around to see Nora, Ren and Sun heading towards them. The two other members of Team JNPR were limping, clearly from injuries they had sustained earlier. Still, looks of relief were etched onto their expressions as they met up with their team members.

"Thank god you're alright." Ren said, limping as he walked. "We were so worried about you guys!"

"We're alright." Jaune said. "We're both okay now."

"Oh my god, did you see the lightning?!" Nora all but screeched, immediately wincing and clutching her side before lowering her voice. "I"ve never seen anything move that fast."

"Yeah, we saw him." Pyrrha replied. "He was the one to get me off that tower." She gestured to the Dragon perched on Beacon.

"Wait, he?" Ren clarified, but was interrupted by Sun.

"Look, as interesting as this is, we need to get outta here." The Faunus interjected. "Pyrrha, can you walk?"

"I-I think so..." The Mistral champion took a step forward, only for the pain in her heel to grow worse.

Stumbling, she was caught by Jaune. "I've got you." He said, picking her up and carrying her bridal style. Pyrrha couldn't help but smile in spite of herself, something Jaune easily returned.

"Let's go." He said, walking with her in his arms, followed closely by Sun.

Nora and Ren watched as Jaune carried Pyrrha to the evac point, sly grins on both of their faces. At least something good had come out of this horrible day. Then they followed their teammates out of the city.

* * *

As Team JNPR and Sun made their way out of the city, none of them bothered to look behind them as they left an army of Grimm milling about. As a result, no one saw the streak of red lightning as it slammed through a dozen Grimm, killing them in seconds.

None of them saw as the lightning also halted, revealing the source to be a man with a similar costume to the Scarlet Speedster. The main difference included a reversed color scheme of mostly yellow accented with red. The man's whole body was vibrating at an unnatural pace, and his eyes were also glowing red.

The man in yellow watched as the Atlesian ships took off into the air, an unreadable expression on his face. Abruptly, a small thunderclap erupted from nearby and he turned to watch as another portal appeared in the middle of the street. He smirked at the sight.

"See you soon, Flash."

An unnaturally deep, distorted and outright monstrous voice emerged from the masked figure. And just like his counterpart, the speedster disappeared in a streak of red lightning, and entered the portal, which promptly vanished.


	2. Vale

It had been several days since the fall of Beacon. Ruby had finally woken up and was with her father and uncle, discussing what had happened while she was out. Eventually, Qrow asked to talk to Ruby privately, and her father reluctantly agreed. Once Taiyang had left the room, Qrow sat down on the chair, smiling softly at her.

"How're you feeling kiddo?" Qrow asked.

"Well, I hurt." Ruby sheepishly replied. "Everywhere."

Qrow chuckled. "Well, after what you did, that's not surprising."

Ruby shook her head, a look of confusion growing on her face.

"You all keep saying I did something, but I don't..." She trailed off, to which Qrow looked at her in both concern and curiousity.

"What's the last thing you remember?"

Ruby's mind went back as she recalled the last events she could think of.

"I ran up the side of the tower, and when I got to the top, I... saw Cinder and-" She gasped as her eyes widened in horror. "Pyrrha! Is she...?"

At this, Qrow actually smiled slightly, his expression softening at Ruby's concern.

"She's fine."

"Wh-What?!" Ruby all but shrieked, in complete shock.

"She was badly wounded by Cinder, but she's recovering. I believe your friend Jaune is with her."

"I-I thought Cinder killed her." Ruby whispered as a torrent of emotions flooded through her.

"Well, that might explain what happened next."

And so Qrow told her the tale of the Silver-eyed warriors along with the fact that her mother had been the same. Qrow then explained all the things that had happened after she had blacked out, and what the state of events were in Vale. Then he explained what they had learned about the rest of her team. Ruby took it all in with varying degrees of sadness and confusion, but at the end, there was still one thing that was bothering her.

"So... how did Pyrrha get off the tower?" She asked. "All I saw was a streak of lightning and then... she was gone. Who saved her?"

"That... we know, though we still don't know who." Qrow sighed, then noticed Ruby's confusion. "According to your friends, that streak of lightning was caused by someone in a red costume. He apparently got Pyrrha out of there before Cinder could finish her off and got her to Jaune. And he made a brief appearance to Glynda and Ironwood. According to them, he called himself the Flash."

Ruby was quiet for a moment as she processed this information. She had gotten to the top of the tower with Weiss' help and yet had only arrived just in time to see Cinder fire an arrow. She couldn't process the event in time to use her speed to stop it. But this 'Flash' was behind her, yet had apparently ran up the side of the tower under his own power and had been fast enough to grab Pyrrha and get her miles away. All in the time it took for Cinder to let an arrow fly.

"That guy must've been fast." Far faster than even she was.

"Oh, big time." Qrow agreed. "We've got corraborating stories from groups all over Vale who claim that a streak of yellow lightning saved them from the Grimm. There's no doubt as to who it was. Your friends are also saying that he first appeared from some sort of portal, then vanished into a different one after saving Pyrrha."

"So, this Flash... is gone?"

"Yep." Qrow sighed. "Which is a shame. He left one hell of an impression..."

* * *

Battle of Beacon. Days earlier.

Glynda and Ironwood made their way through the streets, fighting towards the downed Atlas airship. Qrow had left the group, having headed off towards Beacon when that massive blast of light had appeared.

He had only left a minute ago, which seemed to coincide with a large wave of Grimm headed right for the experienced Hunters. That was when something surprising happened.

A streak of gold lightning ran blasted through the streets, ramming into the Grimm formation and sending dozens of them flying. To their surprise, the lightning halted, revealing a man clad in a red and yellow costume. Instinctively, Ironwood aimed his sidearm at the oddly dressed human, who raised his hands in a take-it-easy gesture.

"Hey, hey! I'm one of the good guys."

"Who are you?" Glynda asked. He paused in what seemed like amused confusion.

"I'm the Flash."

"What kingdom are you from?"

Ironwood's question drew a very confused glance from the masked man, but before he could say anything, loud screaming drew the attention of him and the two Hunters. Spinning around, the masked man disappeared in a streak of yellow lightning, moving far faster than either of them could follow.

To their surprise, two seconds later, the lightning briefly returned, and a young male boy was standing right before them. Then the lightning disappeared and came back again, this time deposting an old female Faunus in front of them. The pattern of lightning continued until two dozen civilians were standing in the street with them. All of which happened in less than fifteen seconds.

"Looks like this Flash just brought us everyone left in the area." Glynda said.

"So he is one of the good guys." Ironwood murmered. "But I still have to get to my ship."

"James, just go." Glynda said wearily. "I'll get these people out of here."

Hesitantly, the General nodded and moved towards his ship. Glynda looked towards the fearful crowd around her. Steeling her resolve, she collected herself. She was a Huntress. These people were looking at her for hope and guidance. She just wished she had more to give them.

"Alright everyone." She called, gathering the attention of everyone in the crowd. "Stay close to me. I'll guide you to a safe zone."

Reluctant to go further into the now Grimm infested city, Glynda was nevertheless able to get everyone to agree to go with her. As she led them through the Grimm infested streets, she realized that she hadn't seen this Flash character after he had brought these people to her. Dismissing her thoughts as unimportant, she focused on the task at hand.

* * *

On a rooftop in Vale, Mercury and Emerald were watching as the Grimm tore through the city. Mercury was still filming the events from his Scroll, while Emerald was looking on the events with mixed feelings.

A small thunderclap erupted from down on the street, surprising the two of them. The master thief and the assassin looked down, and were surprised to find a strange blue-white portal in the middle of the street.

"What is that?" Emerald asked.

Before Mercury could answer a figure emerged from the breach which quickly sealed. Neither of Cinder's henchmen noticed, as their attention had been drawn solely to this new arrival.

He was clad in a yellow, black and red costume, with red glowing eyes emerging from his mask. The man's body was vibrating at an unnatural pace, giving off the appearance of some sort of evil ghost.

The red eyed man briefly looked up towards them, causing Mercury and Emerald to flinch, before turning away and vanishing in a streak of red lightning, which raced through the streets of Vale.

Nearby, the water in a fountain suddenly started levitating as if gravity had somehow been reversed. When the streak of red lightning was gone, the water fell back to the ground with a splash.

"Uh... what the hell was that?" Mercury asked, with a slight waver in his voice.

Emerald had no answer. While she appeared calm on the inside, inwardly she was terrified of what she had just seen. That being in the yellow costume just felt... unnatural. Even more so than the Grimm, or even Cinder.

"Did you get it on tape?" Emerald asked, finally finding her voice.

Mercury checked the camera, then nodded.

"We should show it to Cinder." She said. "Whoever that was, he could be a threat to the plan."

_Not to mention our lives._ Emerald thought, though she kept it to herself. For once, Mercury had no scathing comeback. And judging from one look at his face, he was quietly scared of what he had seen as well.

Those red eyes just kept coming up in her mind, and she thought she felt a sense of... indifference from this man. Like two of the most dangerous people in the kingdom were of absolutely no threat to this man.

And that little... anomaly with the water. That was not like the power of the Maidens. It was just... unnatural. Suddenly, everything they had accomplished, every piece of Cinder's plan, even the world of Remnant itself, suddenly felt... insignificant.

Both of their thought processes were interrupted when a flash of blinding light emerged from the top of Beacon tower. The light passed, and soon Mercury noticed a body flying towards the ground. It hit the street a block away, and the assassin looked at the thief.

"That's not a good sign." Emerald rolled her eyes.

"Let's go."

She jumped off the side of the building and landed on the street, quickly followed by Mercury. The two of them made their way towards where the body had fallen. On the way there, Emerald thought she saw a streak of yellow lightning out of the corner of her eye, but it was gone before she could be sure. Shrugging it off, she focused on reaching the impact site, where the two of them found-

"Cinder!"

She was lying in a crater, badly wounded from whatever had caused that explosion of light at Beacon. There were noticeable cuts and bruises all over her body, and her right eye was now a bloodied wreck, with an x-shaped cut around her eye socket.

"What the hell could do this to her?" Mercury asked.

"Who cares? We've gotta get her out of here."

Emerald lifted her up with Mercury's help and put their boss over his shoulder. As Mercury left, the thief looked back at the tower, where the massive Grimm Dragon was now frozen. To her surprise, she saw the streak of red lightning climbing up Beacon tower, reaching the precipice in less than a second.

* * *

In the ruined remains of Ozpin's office, everything was quiet and still. The Grimm Dragon was frozen in its perch on the top of the office, while debris and large gears were scattered all over the room. Ruby Rose was lying unconscious on the floor, her last act having taken all the energy out of her.

As such, there was no one conscious to see a streak of red lightning resolve itself into a man in a yellow costume, with a red lightning bolt in a circle of black on his chest. His body was vibrating at an unnatural pace, and glowing red eyes not unlike the Grimm surveyed the room, taking a long look at the Dragon frozen like a spectre of death.

The man briefly looked at Ruby, then turned away. In a streak of lightning, he was suddenly in front of Ozpin's ruined desk, lifting up debris and pushing rubble away, surveying the ruins for something.

Finding it fruitless, the man was on the other side of the room in a heartbeat, searching another pile of debris, but once again, finding nothing. The pattern repeated two more times, with the man growing increasingly frustrated. Then with a look of realization, he turned his red-eyed gaze towards the Grimm Dragon, which was frozen in a roar directed at Ruby.

In a heartbeat, the man was standing over the young Huntress' prone form, before getting down on one knee for a closer inspection. Dimly, he heard the sound of a crow cawing from below the office, but ignored it as he looked over the young girl.

After a moment, the man raised his arm, his hand straight and moved it toward Ruby's chest. Before he could move any closer, something caught his attention. Looking over the edge of the tower into the city below, the man watched as a streak of yellow lightning moved throughout the urban streets at an incredible speed.

"There you are." A monstrously distorted voice broke the silence at the top of the office.

With a small smile, the man in yellow disappeared in a streak of red lightning, heading directly for the city below. Seconds after he vanished, the crow flew over the edge and Qrow landed in front of Ruby. Picking up Crescent Rose and storing it on his back, Qrow picked up Ruby in his arms.

"It's alright. I got ya, kiddo. I got ya."


	3. Beacon What If

It was the beginning of the end. Beacon was under assault as hordes of Grimm rampaged throughout the city, spreading panic as they went. The White Fang was leading the attack against Beacon academy, using the chaos to their advantage as they raided the city and ground unchecked.

To make matters worse, Atlas' military had been compromised; all their robotic troops were turning against them, targeting the very civilians they were supposed to protect. It was Vale's darkest hour.

In the academy grounds, a monstrous horde of Grimm was heading to the tower. But standing in the courtyard, having just emerged from a breach to their own world, were a group unlike any others on Remnant. And they did not plan on letting this attack go unchallenged.

Flash, Green Arrow, Vixen, Citizen Steel, and Heat Wave stood on the ground, while Supergirl, Firestorm and ATOM hovered just over them. Nate's skin turned chrome, while Amaya became surrounded by the glowing blue aura of a gorilla. The two co-leaders, Flash and Green Arrow, looked towards each other.

"Are you ready?" Oliver asked. Barry tilted his head for a moment and looked toward the battle. Lightning danced in his eyes.

"Let's do this."

Unsurprisingly, Barry was the first to move, vanishing in the blink of an eye, the only thing marking his passing was a streak of yellow lightning plowing through the forces of the Grimm. The rest followed as fast as they were able, the ones with ranged powers or weapons firing as they moved.

Soon, they had made it to the main courtyard, where the students and teams from the festival were fighting for their lives against the oncoming attack. With plenty of targets to choose from, the superheroes moved in to aid them.

Rory's flamethrower burned through several Beowolves, while Amaya wrestled a Boarbatusk head on. Nate charged an Ursa, punching the creature in the stomach so hard that it collapsed immediately. An explosive arrow blew off the head of a Creep, then Oliver shot another arrow into the head of a Beowolf.

While the ground based heroes alleviated the pressure of the Grimm, the flying superheroes flew in to assist the teenagers against the rogue Atlesian Paladins. The robotic war machines were proving to be a difficult fight for teams CFVY, SSSN, and all their allies, right until Kara, Ray and Jax/Stein joined in.

ATOM's ion blasters fired as he tore into the Paladins, occasionally shrinking down and tearing through the military machines from the inside. Firestorm's flames wreaked havoc on their systems, and several of their components were turned into water or rust.

Supergirl's heat vision bore through them with little effort, and several ruined robots marked where Barry had stopped to dismantle them in the span of a second. The speedster hadn't stuck around, having already seen that the city proper needed help with civilian evacuation.

"Um, who are you guys?" Neptune asked. Several of the others pointed their weapons at the superheroes in surprise in confusion.

"Easy, we're here to help." Ray said, landing and putting his hands up in a placating gesture.

"They are." Mick said. "I'm just here to burn some stuff."

"Well, I suppose several extra sets of hands couldn't hurt." Coco said. "Though you all really need better outfits."

Before the superheroes could retort, roaring and screeching drew everyone's attention above. In the skies around the city, large amounts of aerial Grimm circled and dived into the town, attacking anyone in sight. Beyond them was the massive bulk of a Dragon, flying over the city. As it flew, globs of some strange black substance fell off its body, spawning Grimm wherever they landed.

"We need to take that thing out." Oliver shouted, gesturing to the massive flyer.

"I've got it." Supergirl said, before Oliver could reply, and flew away before any protests from the teens could reach her.

"Does she plan on taking that thing out herself?" Sun asked incredulously, terrified for her safety.

"Yep." Every one of the newcomers replied at once, completely unconcerned.

...

Supergirl easily made her way into the skies, burning any Griffons or Nevermores that got in her way with heat vision, and punching through any Grimm who managed to avoid that. Very soon, nothing was between her and the largest Grimm present.

At speed, Supergirl flew at the massive Dragon and slammed into it. To the shock of the natives of Remnant, the seemingly unstoppable Grimm had been struck a devastating blow as the dragon recoiled, screeching in pain. Kara didn't let up, pounding on the massive Grimm with everything she had, moving it away from the city.

The Dragon was now in trouble. Its sheer size and power had originally meant that it could fly through pretty much anything the humans could throw at it, especially with all the chaos that had gripped the city. Nothing would've been able to hurt it... until now, where one tiny creature easily matched it in pure physical power, an event that should've been completely impossible.

Grimm flyers attempted to protect the Dragon, but they easily fell to the strange woman, who often shot them with blue beams of energy that emerged from her eyes. This was a level of power unlike any had been seen on Remnant, and it was clear that this was no ordinary woman.

Outmatched, the Dragon was still smarter than most other Grimm, and did one thing it really did not want to do. It retreated, being hounded every step of the way by the Kryptonian. Little did the Grimm realize that it was playing right into Kara's hands. Beams of energy clipped its wings, sending the beast to the forest below.

Supergirl had deliberately drawn the Dragon away from the city, so when it came crashing down, it wouldn't be on top of any civilians. Landing in front of the Dragon, the massive beast roared at her, while dozens of lesser Grimm rushed towards her.

Kara simply cracked her knuckles.

* * *

On the deck of General Ironwood's ship, another fight was raging, this time between the young Huntress Ruby Rose, and the criminals Roman Torchwick and Neopolitan. While she was putting up a good effort, she was clearly outmatched, and an explosion from Torchwick's cane sent her flying to the ground, her scythe carving into the deck.

"Little Red, little red. You are just determined to be the hero." Roman mocked. "But this isn't a fight you can win."

Roman and Neo walked over to the struggling Ruby, who was groaning as she attempted to rise. Her Aura was low, and the two criminals clearly had the upper hand. At least until two fireballs exploded at their feet, sending them flying back.

Ruby looked up at her savior. He was rather young and oddly dressed, wearing a strange yellow and red bodysuit. He was hovering in the air, with fire in his hands keeping him afloat. His head was also on fire, and strangely, his eyes were a milky white.

"Let's see if we can change that." The new arrival stated.

Roman rose to his feet and fired at the flyer, who easily avoided the shots and flew towards Roman. Landing on the ground, the boy sent a fireball at Neo, which shattered an illusion of her. Surprised by that, Roman capitalized on the distraction and swung his cane at the flaming figure, landing a blow on his stomach.

Moving in for another attack, Roman blinked in shock as his cane suddenly dissolved into sand, slipping through his fingers. Firestorm wasted no time and punched the criminal in the face, sending him flying.

While he was distracted, Neo snuck up behind Firestorm, a razor sharp needle emerging from the tip of her umbrella. Ruby was about to shout a warning when Firestorm got one of his own, as the voice in his head alerted him to the sneak attack.

Spinning around, he sent a blast of flame into the criminal, sending Neo flying back towards Ruby. Acting quickly, the young Huntress hit the release catch on Neo's umbrella, causing her to be blown away by the high winds.

"Neo!" Roman screamed impotently.

Angered, he rushed towards Ruby, but without his cane, his offensive capabilities had been severely depleted. He was intercepted by Firestorm, who hit the criminal with another explosive blast, draining Torchwick's Aura and knocking him unconscious.

"Well, that was easy." The flaming boy muttered.

"Who are you?" Ruby questioned, retracting her scythe as she addressed her odd-looking savior.

"Call me Firestorm."

Their conversation was interrupted by the screeching of an approaching Griffon. One landed in front of them, standing at nearly 30 feet tall. Ruby pulled out her scythe, while Firestorm simply flared up.

Before the superhero could react, Ruby was already moving, slashing at the large Grimm faster than it could move. In no time at all, Ruby had managed to decapitate the beast, which took a lot of effort out of her, considering her heavy breathing.

"Ok, that was impressive." Suddenly, the ship started shuddering, as several more Griffons and Nevermores attacked the airship's engines. "And that's our cue to get off this thing."

Grabbing Ruby and Torchwick, Firestorm flew off the collapsing airship, dropping them off on Beacon's landing pad before taking to the skies again. Ruby and the nearby onlookers watched him with awe and growing confusion.

* * *

In the ruined Beacon cafeteria, Adam Taurus was just finishing his rather one-sided fight against his former partner, Blake Belladonna. She was on the ground, pleading and crying, a familiar situation to both of them.

She had hurt him when she abandoned him in the middle of the train heist. Now, he planned to ensure that she suffered, by destroying everything she had grown to care for at Beacon. But his plan for revenge was about to be thrown awry.

"You hurt me, Blake. Now I'll return the favor."

He raised his hand to slap her, when a massive impact on his back pitched him over Blake's prone body and into one of the cafeteria tables.

"That's no way to treat a lady."

Surprised, Adam rose to his feet, and turned around to see a man in a strange suit of blue and red armor. Acting quickly, the White Fang leader swung his sword, but the armored man vanished, shrinking down to a small size as he avoided the blow. Overcommited, Adam was hit in the stomach by a blast of blue energy that sent him flying past Blake who was stunned at the proceedings.

The Faunus rose to his feet and looked around for his attacker, turning just in time to be decked in the face by a full sized suit of armor. Snarling, Adam moved to strike him again, only to be knocked off his feet by another energy blast.

"Blake?" Ray turned in confusion at the unexpected voice, seeing a well-endowed girl with long blonde hair looking around outside the cafeteria.

This proved to be a mistake, as Adam used his distraction to his advantage, punching the back of Ray's head, hard. The ATOM crashed into the pillar, and hit the ground, lying motionless and drawing Yang's attention.

An explosion hit Adam, followed by a stream of extremely hot flame, which threw the White Fang leader back and damaged his clothing. Snarling, he rose to his feet, getting a good look at his latest attackers. One was clad in a strange green outfit, wearing a mask and hood to cover his face, he was holding a bow and arrow, one of which was currently aimed at him.

The other was obviously human, and compared to the outfits of the other two, didn't stand out as much. He was wearing plain brown pants and and a very dark green jacket, had lost his hair, and had a bit of a crazed look in his eyes. In his hand was a strange orange weapon, the source of the flames from earlier no doubt.

"Get on the ground." The green one ordered, his voice heavily distorted.

"Or else what?" Adam taunted.

"Or else I'll burn your skin off." The crazed one said, with a look that made it clear he would enjoy doing that.

Snarling, Adam charged the two of them, both of them barely leaping out of the way as his sword missed Green Arrow's head by mere centimeters. He was then bathed in flames, but only growled at the attempt to hurt him. Suddenly, he was sent flying by Yang's attack.

The blonde huntress in training had used Adam's distraction to her advantage, targeting him with her gauntlets while she was dealing with Oliver and Mick. Rushing forward, she noticed that her partner was on the ground. Oliver stood up and looked at her.

"Get her out of here." The hooded man ordered. Yang hesitated, then nodded and helped Blake up. The two of them sprinted away, leaving Green Arrow and Heat Wave to suffer Adam's angry wrath.

Adam was about to strike one last time, furious at these two humans for allowing his target to escape, when all of a sudden, he was struck in the back yet again, and fell towards the ground, only to find himself rising into the air as the ATOM grabbed a hold of him and flew higher into the sky.

"You can end this, right now." Ray said. "Just surrender."

In response, Adam struggled even more, managing to slam his elbow into the ATOM helmet. This proved to be a mistake, as the hero lost his grip on the White Fang leader, who plummeted to the ground and landed painfully, draining the last of his Aura.

Heat Wave walked up to the groaning White Fang leader, pointing his flamethrower. "I'm going to enjoy this."

"Mick." The pyro groaned at the disapproval in Ray's voice.

"Fine. I won't kill him."

While they argued, Adam struggled to get up and attack once more, but a sharp pain in his shoulder put that thought to bed. Oliver had put an arrow through him, one which wouldn't kill him, but it would leave him in a lot of pain.

"Stay down." Green Arrow ordered, much to the annoyance of the other two.

"Why does he get to have all the fun?" Mick complained.

Nevertheless, the White Fang leader still made an effort to get up, right up until Ray punched him in the face. With his Aura drained and his strength gone, he was knocked unconscious. Finally, Adam Taurus was out of the fight.

* * *

Mercury and Emerald stood on the roof of a building, watching as everything in Vale went to hell. Things had been going according to plan; the Grimm were in Vale, the White Fang had been on the assault, and Atlas' robots had been turned against them.

Now though, things were starting to unravel. A streak of yellow lightning was moving through the city streets at an inhuman speed, tearing through Grimm, dismantling Knights, and saving civilians from both in short order. Ever since the lightning had appeared, the casualty rate among the civilians had dropped to practically zero, as the streak removed everyone from the danger areas.

And that was only one aspect. They had seen what had happened to that massive Grimm. One individual in a red and blue outfit had done something that even the Atlesian military would be hard-pressed to do.

Roman and Neo weren't responding to any of their calls, they had seen Adam being dropped several stories by a man in a strange blue and red suit of armor, and the Atlesian robotic forces were all being shut down.

"I think it's safe to say that we should leave." Mercury stated. Emerald turned to him.

"We are not leaving Cinder alone." She jabbed her finger into his chest.

"I think you two might have bigger problems." Stunned, the thief and the assassin turned behind them, seeing a dark skinned woman in a strange black and brown jumpsuit, and a man in a ridiculously looking blue and red costume with a star on the chest and a mask over his face, walking towards them.

"We know you were responsible for what happened in the Coliseum ." The man stated. "We're taking you in." Mercury and Emerald looked at each other.

"You can try." Mercury said. The woman smiled.

"The hard way it is, then."

Amaya ran at Mercury, surrounded by the blue outline of a cheetah. Faster than he realized, she was on him, punching him hard in the face. He recoiled from the blow, backflipping to recover and kicking Vixen in the chest.

Staggering back, the aura of an elephant appeared around her, just in time for her to take Mercury's next attack with ease. Grabbing his foot, she started slamming him against the ground, her strength increased significantly as every blow left a noticeable indentation in the roof.

Meanwhile, Emerald unloaded her guns into Nate, but unsurprisingly, the rounds bounced off of his skin. Running forward, Steel bodyslammed into her, causing the thief to hit the ground and gasp in pain.

Nate, desiring to end this quickly, made a quick punch at Emerald's head, only to hit empty air. The image of the thief disappeared, and a pair of chains wrapped around his arms. Heaving with all her strength, Emerald pulled Nate and whipped him around, slamming him into an air conditioner unit.

An explosive from Mercury's boot went off, sending the superhero and young assassin flying in different directions. Amaya recovered first, and looked around to see how Nate was doing.

He had attempted to pull Emerald to him, but she had used the momentum to leap on his head and over the ruined air conditioner unit. Vixen tackled her before she hit the ground, crashing into a weak point on the roof and causing it to collapse.

Meanwhile, Mercury had recovered and was on the offensive, his kicks containing enough force to actually knock around Citizen Steel. Combine that with his firing boots, and Mercury couldn't keep the cocky grin off his face. This was way too easy.

His good cheer was interrupted when a chunk of the roof was hurled at him, and he backflipped and kicked it high in the air, destroying it with a single shot. Nate had used that distraction to close the distance, knocked him to the ground, and like Amaya, grabbed his leg, crushing one of the metallic limbs with ease. With his leg now crippled, Mercury gulped, knowing that he was in trouble.

Inside, Amaya was hunting Emerald, no easy task considering her semblance. With that in mind, the aura of a wolf appeared around her, heightening her senses to well beyond the norm. Her hearing and olfactory senses would allow her to determine what was an illusion and what wasn't.

Sure enough, the image of Emerald running between a pair of rooms appeared to her, but her heightened senses betrayed its falseness. Still, she rushed toward it, pretending to take the bait, all the while aware of the thief attempting to sneak behind her.

As soon as she reached the doorway, the image disappeared. The aura of a kangaroo surrounded her as she spun around and kicked Emerald hard in the chest as she moved in to attack.

Her weapons flew out of her hands, and Amaya was quick to capitalize on the advantage, unleashing the prowess of a black belt martial artist and the power of some of the most dangerous animals on Earth against Cinder's second in command.

By the time Vixen was finished and bringing Emerald's unconscious body up to the roof, Nate had already dealt with Mercury. Both of his legs were crippled and he was battered, bruised and unconscious. Then again, the mint-haired thief wasn't in much better condition.

"Do you think we were too hard on them?" Nate asked.

"They were party to causing this whole thing in the first place." Amaya replied. "They should be thankful they're still alive."

Before Nate could comment on her ruthlessness brought on by living on the frontlines of World War II, a loud noise and alarming sight brought their attention upwards. Their eyes widened at what they saw.

"Well, that's worrying." Nate said.

* * *

In the skies over Vale, Ironwood's airship had been badly damaged, thanks to the sabotage of Roman and Neo, and the constant attacks from the Griffons and Nevermores that surrounded it. Trailing fire, the ship descended towards the city, directly towards the residential area.

Until Kara flew underneath and lifted the ship, controlling its descent until she was standing on a rooftop, holding the weight of the military vessel. Onlookers couldn't contain their awe at the impossible feat they were witnessing. Looking around with her X-ray vision, Kara saw that there were dozens of people in the surrounding area, and she couldn't hold the airship up forever.

"Flash!"

"I'm on it!"

In seconds, every bystander in the crash zone was miles away, allowing Supergirl to set it down as gently as she could manage. As soon as she was done that, Barry appeared beside her.

"Nice one."

"Thanks." Kara said, before scanning the city with her x-ray vision. "Though we've still got more people in danger."

"And a whole bunch of those flying monsters." Barry pointed up.

"I'll deal with them." Kara said, taking off into the air. Barry chuckled and took off once more. While everyone else had been fighting in the Beacon courtyard or in the sky, he had been busy in the city proper, a job he was continuing right now.

Through the streets of Vale, the Flash ran, knocking down Grimm and shredding through the more humanoid robots before they even realized he was there. In between that, Barry was hard at work rescuing civilians and getting them to safe zones in the time it took to blink.

All any witnesses were seeing was a streak of lightning as it performed such heroic deeds, and people moved to safe zones were completely confused as to how they even got there, as the last thing they knew, it seemed that the Grimm would get them.

As he approached to help another heavily armed group, he saw that the robots they were fighting suddenly shut down. It appeared that whatever was controlling them had finally been overridden.

Further down the line, he came across one blonde boy dressed in armor. He was currently engaged against a dozen of the Grimm creatures, and was quickly being overwhelmed. Barry grabbed him and quickly brought him to the group he had just run past. The three arrivals pointed their weapons at him, to which Flash raised a placating hand.

"Hey, hey, I'm on your side." He was interrupted by the person he had just rescued.

"Professor Goodwitch? Thank the gods."

"Jaune?" The woman, Goodwitch was surprised to see him.

"Ozpin told me to get you. He needs help at Beacon tower."

"We need to get there right now." Qrow said, but Ironwood interrupted.

"I need to get to my ship." The cyborg general replied. "If I can coordinate my forces-"

"We've got bigger problems." Qrow snapped. "If Oz says we need to help him, then that's where we go."

"There's no time for this!" Jaune shouted, to everyone's surprise. "Pyrrha's in the Beacon tower. She's going up against the woman responsible for all of this on her own. You have to help her."

The Flash listened to this whole conversation, and then vanished in a streak of lightning, heading directly for the tower. Qrow, Glynda, Ironwood, and Jaune watched in a brief moment of surprise as the metahuman disappeared.

* * *

Cinder couldn't believe what was happening. Her plan was being torn apart by these costumed freaks, who had appeared out of nowhere and sabotaged all the efforts she had spent months working towards. Even the Dragon had been beaten by one of the costumed heroes singlehandedly. Salem would not be happy.

Still, the fact that she had been able to absorb the rest of the Fall Maiden's power was a silver lining, one which she relished with every breath. With all that energy coursing through her, there was a chance that she could turn the tide back in her favor.

Her musings were interrupted by the sound of the elevator screeching as it rose up to the office. Turning, she found the champion Pyrrha Nikos emerging from the broken elevator, using her semblance to summon her sword and shield into her hands. Cinder hovered in the air, her power growing around her. It was time to finish this.

...

"Guys, the woman responsible for this," Barry started, speaking into his earpiece. "She's in the tower."

"Ok, if we get her, we can end this." Oliver said. "We need to draw her out."

"I'm already on my way." Barry replied. "Someone's already fighting her, but they're going to be outmatched."

"I'll be right there." Kara said.

"So will I." Ray said. The rest of the team gave similar confirmations.

"Alright, I'll see you all there."

...

The fight had been fierce, but fairly brief. Cinder had to give credit where it was due; Pyrrha was an excellent fighter. Ozpin had chosen his champion well. Still, she was on her knees, an arrow having pierced her ankle. Now, it would be easy to finish her off. Drawing back her bow once more, she fired an arrow directly at Pyrrha's heart.

Even Salem couldn't have foreseen what would happen next.

Out of nowhere, a man in a strange red and yellow costume appeared right in front of her, holding the arrow that she had just fired in one hand. Blinking in surprise, she quickly created and fired another arrow, which the man caught with ease.

"That wasn't very nice." The Flash said.

Before Cinder could react, the speedster was all around her in the blink of an eye, rapid fire punches hitting the new Fall Maiden and slowly drained her Aura. Any attempt by Cinder to strike back was avoided with ease, until she retaliated by unleashing an explosive blast around herself, sending Barry flying. The speedster recovered quickly, disappearing into lightning as he ran around the edges of the circular room.

The yellow lightning spun around the room, when all of a sudden, Cinder was struck by the lightning as the speedster came to a halt, sending her crashing into the remains of Ozpin's desk.

In response, she summoned shards of ice and hurled them towards the two warriors, only for the woman responsible for beating the dragon to fly in and get in the way, absorbing the lethal shards like they were nothing more than harmless snowballs.

"You mind if I cut in?" Kara asked, looking towards Barry.

"She's all yours." The Flash replied, and vanished with Pyrrha in tow.

Cinder eyes began glowing with flame as she unleashed the full scale of her new powers at this newcomer. The energy she had in her possession had killed Ozpin, so even this woman wouldn't be much of a challenge. That was what Cinder had thought, right up until the point where she was sent flying through the window.

The Fall Maiden was able to use her abilities to slow her descent, hovering a fair distance away from the ground. Until she was struck by the explosive blasts of Firestorm, who unleashed flames against Cinder, throwing her off balance.

Her landing wasn't the softest, but she landed safely, and retaliated with a windstorm against the nuclear superhero. Firestorm was sent flying by the power, spinning out of control as he struggled to regain his own balance.

She couldn't capitalize on that, as she was struck by a blue energy blast from below her, and was thrown into the air as a result. ATOM returned to normal size and fired off his ion blasters again, striking Cinder in the stomach.

She skidded as she was sent flying, ice appearing as she did so, which she immediately formed into ice shards and sent towards him. Ray countered by shrinking down and avoided the ice crystals, which were melted by a blast of flame from Heat Wave's flamethrower.

The pyromaniac turned the weapon against Cinder, but another gust of wind sent Mick flying. She was then struck by an arrow, which was absorbed by her Aura, allowing her to retaliate with her own arrows against Green Arrow.

Oliver leapt out of the way, but Cinder summoned a swarm of leaves, which she froze into razor sharp edges, and sent them towards the archer. But they were intercepted by Citizen Steel and shattered on his chrome skin. Nate grabbed a large chunk of debris and threw it at her, but Cinder incinerated it before it could reach her.

This was ultimately a distraction for Vixen, who slammed into Cinder's back with the force of a rampaging rhino. Turning her momentum into a roll, she sent a burst of fire and ice at Amaya, who narrowly avoided the blast.

A blast of energy struck Cinder's back, and she stumbled forward, her Aura levels becoming dangerously low. She realized that these arrivals were surrounding her now; Green Arrow, Heat Wave, Steel, Vixen, Firestorm and ATOM were all around her, their weapons leveled at her.

"Surrender." Oliver ordered. "It's over."

Cinder's response was to gather all her power and unleash a fiery shockwave, which sent all of them flying back. Her victory was short-lived, as Cinder was promptly speedblitzed by the Flash, sending her into the waiting fist of Supergirl.

The Kryptonian's punch finally broke her Aura and the new Fall Maiden fell to the ground unconscious. The superheroes surrounded her again, Oliver with his bow leveled, Mick with his flamethrower, and Ray with his ion blasters, but she was out cold.

It was over, the Battle of Beacon had ended. The superheroes turned to see as a crowd gathered around them. Teams RWBY, JNPR, SSSN, ABRN, FNKI, and more gathered, along with the Beacon faculty and other hunters, like Professors Port, Oobleck and Goodwitch, along with General Ironwood and Qrow Branwen.

"No need to thank us." Ray said.

"Is that... Cinder?" Weiss asked.

"You guys took her down?" Jaune was awestruck.

"You're welcome." Mick snarked.

"Ok, I gotta ask, just who the hell are you guys?"

"Well, we're..." Barry realized that they were probably asking for a name for the group of them. "The-uh..."

"Justice League?" Kara suggested. The response among the heroes was ...mixed. Flash, ATOM, Citizen Steel and Vixen seemed to like the name, while Green Arrow, Firestorm and Heat Wave didn't seem to be fond of it. But it was only the latter who said something.

"That's a stupid name." Mick deadpanned, then gestured to the rest of the group. "I'm not with them."

Suddenly, a blue white rift opened behind them, causing the superheroes to turn in surprise. The rest stepped back in shock and confusion, while the Flash spoke one word. "Cisco?" A voice emerged from the rift, sounding somewhat young and strained, as if he was exerting a lot of effort to hold onto something.

"Everyone get in!" The voice said. "I can't hold the breach open for much longer!"

The Flash responded by grabbing Green Arrow and Heat Wave, bringing them through the rift in a second. Everyone quickly followed as they ran, with Supergirl, Firestorm and ATOM flying through immediately, while the streak of lightning returned and grabbed Vixen and Steel in mid stride.

Immediately after the last of them were through, the breach closed, leaving a very confused crowd in its wake. Eventually, Ruby found her voice enough to speak the phrase they were all thinking in some form.

"Ok, what just happened?"


	4. On the Road

Thunder rumbled outside of Salem's keep, as Grimm emerged from the pools of black liquid surrounding the castle. Up on the highest point of the tower was the main meeting room, which was currently occupied by Salem herself, Doctor Arthur Watts, Tyrian Callows, Hazel Rainart, Cinder Fall, and the latter's two acolytes, Mercury Black and Emerald Sustrai.

The five main individuals were discussing the events after the fall of Beacon, with Watts and Tyrian needling Cinder for her loss against Ruby until Salem arrived, and then the discussion soon shifted for their plans against Mistral.

After everything had been plotted out, with Watts meeting with Lionheart, Hazel with the White Fang, while Tyrian would hunt down Ruby Rose, all of which would allow Cinder to recover from her injuries. But before they could leave, Cinder gestured to Emerald, signalling one last discussion to talk about.

"I believe there is one other item to discuss." Emerald interjected hesitantly. "It's about this Flash."

"What about him?" Watts snarked. "Besides the fact that he apparently absconded with Miss Nikos right under your nose, what would you suggest we do?"

"Whoever he is." Tyrian chuckled. "He's just another goody two shoes hero. What could he do against us?"

At that moment, Watts had pulled out a canteen to take a drink, but paused in shock when the water started flowing up out of the container and hovered in the air, something that drew the attention of everyone in the room.

Two seconds later, the doors burst open and a streak of red lightning emerged into the room, circling the table two dozen times in three seconds before coming to a halt at the far end from Salem.

Mercury and Emerald's eyes went wide at their visitor. He was fairly tall, clad in a dark yellow suit with a red and black lightning symbol on his chest. His body was vibrating at an unnatural pace and his eyes were glowing red behind his mask.

"You know, I must say," A monstrously distorted voice emerged from the new arrival. "this certainly was a difficult place to find."

Cinder's acolytes drew their weapons almost immediately, and were rewarded by being knocked away into the walls by the new arrival in a second before returning to his former position like nothing happened. Everyone else at the table tensed, with the sole exception of Salem, who simply raised her hand.

"Enough." She said, before turning her full attention to this new arrival. "You certainly know how to make an entrance."

"I wished to speak with you."

"I can see that." Salem replied. "But I believe it is rather inconsiderate to enter someone's home unannounced."

"You don't exactly have a doorbell." The new arrival said dryly as Mercury and Emerald staggered to their feet. "But you make a fair point. I suppose introductions are in order."

The speedster took off his mask, the glowing eyes and vibrations disappearing as he did so. After the almost demonic appearance, the appearance of an ordinary looking blond man was rather anticlimactic.

"My name is Eobard Thawne." He said, his voice now normal as well. "And I have a proposition for you." Salem's eyes narrowed, as what almost seemed like recognition crossed over her face.

"I'm listening."

* * *

Ruby woke up first, surrounded by Jaune, Pyrrha, Nora and Ren. Unfortunately, sleep had done little to curb the thoughts that crawled into her head, especially after last night's revelations.

When she had first joined up with Team JNPR, Pyrrha had revealed a number of things she had learned from Ozpin and Qrow, including the things about the Maidens and the fact that Cinder now was one.

It had been rather hard to believe for any of them, but confirmation had come just yesterday: this Tyrian guy coming after them and Qrow arriving to save Team JNPRR had been surprising, and after defeating and cutting off his tail, they met up with Qrow, who not only confirmed everything Pyrrha had told them, but also revealed so much more.

The Grimm actually had a leader, who went by the name Salem, and both Tyrian and Cinder were working for her. Salem worked through agents like them to spread fear and disorder, turning mankind against itself.

And her goal was apparently four relics, crafted by the fabled God Brothers themselves, that would allow whoever collected all four of them to reshape the entire world. Of course, the round of revelations hadn't exactly been taken very well, including the reveal of Qrow's semblance.

Still, if everything he said was true, then they had an even greater need to get to Mistral and warn Haven Academy of a potential attack. Ruby planned to find a ride to Mistral as soon as possible, but what happened next would delay those plans.

Some distance away, Qrow was slumped against a tree. She surveyed the area when she heard Qrow cough. Her eyes widened at the sight of purple blood on his hand and leaking from his wound.

"Oh that's not good." His voice was even getting weaker.

The rest of Team JNPR woke when they heard, with Ruby already moving. It happened so fast. One second, Ruby was rushing over to check on Qrow, and in the next second she vanished, spirited away by a streak of red lightning.

"Ruby!" Nora shouted.

"No." Qrow groaned, struggling and failing to rise.

"Wha-what was that?" Jaune ran to the edge of the camp.

"It doesn't matter." Qrow attempted to rise. "We're going after he-" His speech was interrupted by more coughing, purple liquid spraying out of his mouth.

"You're in no condition to fight." Ren said, rushing to Qrow. "That wound must've been poisoned."

Suddenly, a streak of yellow lightning blew through the camp, kicking up a breeze as it headed in the same direction as Ruby. All four members of Team JNPR paused in shock, while Qrow just groaned.

"Was that who I think it was?" Jaune asked.

"If it was, hopefully he can help Ruby." Pyrrha replied.

...

Ruby staggered as she got her bearings. One second, she was moving to check on Qrow, and in the next, she was here, in an old and abandoned shack. She took a step forward, but halted, turning to find her arm handcuffed to a panel on the wall.

Her captor made his presence known in a streak of red lightning, which came to a halt in front of her. He was clad in some sort of yellow costume, his body vibrating and his eyes glowing a solid red.

"You know, I remember you on top of Beacon." Even his voice sounded monstrous. "You were helpless when I found you, but I thought you were just a child. To think that you have such power."

"Who are you?"

"Who I am doesn't matter." The man in yellow stepped towards her. "What matters is you. Salem wants you alive, but I'm wondering just what makes you so special, because it's certainly not your power."

"I think she fears you." He was standing over her now, his red eyes glaring at her. "You possess a spirit that rallies those to you, a simple soul that inspires hope to those in need." He raised his right hand, which seemed to be vibrating even more than the rest of him.

"Hope is so overrated."

Suddenly, a streak of yellow lightning appeared and sent the man in yellow flying into the wall. Dazed, he attempted to move, but the lightning followed, resolving into a man dressed in red who hit him with a lightning enhanced punch, seemingly knocking him out, as the vibration stopped. The new arrival turned to her, giving Ruby a good look at his features.

His costume was the reverse of her captor: it was scarlet in color, with a yellow and white lightning bolt symbol on his chest. Lightning shaped antenna were on the ears of his mask, while yellow lightning patterns could be seen on his arms, legs and waist.

"You're the Flash." Ruby whispered in awe. He nodded, walking over to her.

"I'm gonna get you out of here."

The Flash held out his hand, which started vibrating at an unnatural speed. He drove it into the restraint around Ruby's arm, breaking it easily. Meanwhile, Reverse-Flash stirred, the vibration appearing as he woke up and drawing both of their attention.

"Get back to your friends and get out of here." The Flash ordered. "Run!"

After a moment's hesitation, Ruby did as requested, streaking away in a flurry of rose petals. Barry blinked in surprise at the petals, but refocused his attention at hand. Now it just left the two speedsters as Reverse-Flash pulled himself off of the ground.

"So nice to see you again, Barry." His nemesis growled. "You always have to be the hero, don't you?"

"This ends now Thawne." Barry said. "I'm not letting you hurt anyone else."

"Except we both know that's not true. You couldn't stop me before, and you can't stop me now."

"We'll see about that." Yellow lightning danced in Barry's eyes.

Time slowed to a crawl as the two speedsters charged at each other.

* * *

As it turned out, the Reverse-Flash hadn't taken Ruby too far away from the campsite. The shack was only a couple miles away from Team JNPR, who had gathered their weapons and were prepared to go after her when she returned, panting and out of breath.

"Ruby!" Nora ran forward and hugged her in relief.

"You're... crushing... me." Nora quickly released her.

"Are you alright?" Jaune asked. "What was that?"

"I'm not sure." The young Huntress admitted. "All I know is that whoever grabbed me is working with Salem and has some connection to the Flash."

"So that was him?" Pyrrha asked.

"Yes. He told me to get out of there, but we need to move and quickly."

Right as she said that, the two streaks of lightning that represented the two speedsters emerged from the forest and danced around the campsite, clashing and separating multiple times in rapid succession as the Hunters brandished their weapons.

...

Barry followed Eobard as he ran into the campsite, tackling his nemesis as he attempted to grab the red-hooded teen again, sending them tumbling into the grass at super speed.

Thawne punched Barry in the stomach, who retaliated by headbutting him away. The two sprinted around the clearing, with Barry right on Thawne's heels. Abruptly the future human slowed and grabbed Barry's wrist, using his momentum to send him flying.

Reverse-Flash ran for Ruby again, but the Flash recovered quickly and diverted his passage. Eobard spun and kicked, but Barry ducked under the blow, leaving Thawne an opening to run off again.

...

The speedster fight scattered their belongings all over the place and Ruby could swear the red lightning attempted to attack her, but was intercepted by the Flash. After a minute of this, the Reverse-Flash had been knocked into a tree and the Flash had halted, shouting a name into the air.

"Cisco!"

A blue white portal appeared in the middle of the campsite, which the Flash and his nemesis battled around. Eventually, the superhero gained the upper hand and threw Reverse-Flash into the rift.

"NO!"

The Reverse-Flash screamed as he entered the portal, and in a streak of yellow lightning, the Flash entered it as well, the breach vanishing as soon as he did, leaving Team JNPR staring in surprise and confusion.

They snapped out of their confusion at the sound of Qrow coughing and immediately rushed to his side. Tyrian's poison had done a number on him, and they needed to get him to Mistral ASAP.

"We'll have to hurry." Ren said as Jaune and Ruby picked Qrow up. "I know a short cut."


	5. Menagerie

It had been a normal night on Menagerie, then again, no matter the time, it was always busy, as the Faunus milled around on the streets, either plying their wares or just plain socializing. And it was no different tonight.

That was until the sounds of gunfire and explosions started coming from the Belladonna residence. Ever since the Chieftain's speech denouncing the White Fang, the Faunus had been divided about what to do. Now, it seemed that the White Fang had taken offense to Ghira's speech, considering the sounds within.

Then a strange portal appeared in the middle of the main street of the marketplace. The people closest to it jumped back in surprise, while unsurprisingly a number of others were drawn to the anomaly.

All of a sudden, there was a flash of light, and much of the crowd was dispersed as a streak of red lightning moved through the streets at an incredible speed, followed a nanosecond later by a streak of yellow lightning.

As the crowd attempted to get their bearings, they noticed that the rift had disappeared, and that the two streaks of lightning were already heading into the rest of the town, shouts of surprise and confusion emanating in their wake.

...

In the Belladonna house, Blake and Sun had arrived to find the White Fang attacking the home of the former. The police were on their way, but the Albain brothers were already inside, aiming to kill Blake's parents.

While Sun was helping Blake's father fight the Albain brothers, she left to help her mother, but was confronted by Ilia in one of their meeting rooms. The two fought each other, with Blake desperately trying to convince Ilia to stop, and it seemed like it was working.

That was the point where the battle between the Albains and Ghira made it into the room, smashing through the wall while Blake was knocked aside by Ilia. Sun swung into help, keeping the pressure off Ghira before turning towards Ilia.

Their struggle broke one of the pillars, and the balcony above nearly fell on Ilia. Ghira rushed to grab hold of the balcony, allowing Ilia to free herself while Sun created a pair of clones to aid him.

Fennec Albain used the opportunity to attack, grabbing both daggers and charging the vulnerable Ghira. But Blake managed to pull her father out of the way with Gambol Shroud, leaving Fennec to be crushed by the balcony and causing both daggers to explode.

After that, Kali brought in Yuma, reporting that the rest of the White Fang had been dealt with. Angered at his brother's demise, Corsac attempted to attack the Belladonnas again, but Ilia tearfully stopped him before falling to her knees. The battle was finally over.

Then one of the windows shattered.

* * *

Eobard Thawne aka the Reverse-Flash, broke through the window of the house, but no sooner had he leapt through the now shattering glass, he was immediately tackled by Barry Allen aka the Flash, causing them both to slam into the ground.

Thawne took advantage of the fact that Barry took most of the impact, elbowing the Flash in the stomach, then backhand punching him in the head. The two speedsters separated to opposite sides of the room, but recovered quickly. In the eyes of the two of them, everything else in the room was moving at a snail's pace.

Eobard moved first, lunging toward Barry, who sidestepped and tripped up the supervillain, sending him careening into the table. Flash moved to pin his nemesis down, but Reverse-Flash kicked him in the face, sending him flying into a nearby desk.

Barry was quick to recover and intercepted Thawne as he attempted to flee, hurling the yellow-clad speedster towards the fire. Thawne halted in time and jabbed at the Flash's chest, staggering the Scarlet Speedster.

That was when the impact jostled loose Eobard's prize, which fell from the back of his costume. Thawne's distraction at this allowed the Flash to close the gap and hit his nemesis with an uppercut to the jaw.

...

The Belladonnas, Sun and Ilia watched what was happening with complete shock. Streaks of yellow and red lightning danced around the flaming room, having introduced themselves by smashing through the window at break neck speed.

Then something appeared on the ground, glowing with a blue light, as the streaks of lightning kept up their clash. It appeared to be an opulent lantern, but something about it seemed... off. And despite the noise, it almost seemed like the lantern was... whispering.

Of course, no one could get close to it, or even move much at all with... whatever it was that was happening. Lightning filled the room, the sheer speed of it all was hard to keep track of. Then just as suddenly as it arrived, the lightning stopped, resolving into two figures, against the far wall.

Blake and Sun recognized one of them, even though they had seen him from a distance. It was the hero that had appeared at the Fall of Beacon, the one rumored to call himself the Flash. He was holding the other visitor, pinning him against the wall.

The other was clad in a similar suit, albeit with the colors reversed as yellow was the primary, but while the Flash still looked human, this man looked like a monster. His body was vibrating unnaturally, distorting his appearance.

Glowing red eyes not unlike those of the Grimm emerged from behind his mask. The yellow one's eyes shifted to the Faunus watching, a distorted chuckle emerged from his mouth.

"Well, what do we have here?"

...

The Reverse-Flash looked at the Belladonnas, contemplating his choices. He knew that they would cause problems down the road, but his prize was right there. If he killed them now, then it was one less obstacle later, but it almost certainly mean Barry would get away with his goal.

These thoughts flew through the speedster's mind in a second, in which time the Flash turned his head, following his gaze. Eobard took the distraction to push Barry away, staggering him as Sun and Blake began raising their weapons.

Eobard diverted his attention to Ghira and Blake, heading for them instead of his prize. Barry followed immediately, which was exactly what Reverse-Flash wanted: the future speedster halted and stuck out his arm to clothesline the Flash.

Unfortunately for Thawne, Barry managed to grab his arm when he collided, the momentum sending both of them flying. Flash managed to get Eobard to hit the ground first before the impact knocked the two speedsters apart.

Flash recovered slightly first, while Eobard was still pushing himself off the ground. Barry's eyes wandered to the family and their captives, who were watching this fight with confusion, fear and slight awe. Meanwhile, the fire was still spreading, threatening to engulf the room.

"Get out of here, now!" Barry pointed to the main door, which was still open.

This seemed to snap everyone out of their stupor, as they quickly started filing out of the door, with Blake taking a lingering look of confusion before Sun returned and dragged her away.

Unfortunately, Eobard used the distraction to retrieve the fallen lantern and fled, with Barry following close behind. The arch enemies ran through the streets of Menagerie, before a portal into the Speed Force opened and they disappeared.

...

Meanwhile, the Belladonnas were still reeling from the attack on their house. First the White Fang, then the Flash and his reverse appeared before the two speedsters had disappeared in streaks of lightning, leaving everyone else to wonder what had just happened.

But what worried Blake was the sense of recognition coming from the two speedsters for not just her, but her family and Sun as well. Even assuming the Flash recognized the young Hunters from Beacon, he shouldn't have known her parents, and she knew she had never seen the other man before.

And there was that thing they were fighting over... whatever it was, it felt wrong, like something completely unnatural. For some reason, she had the distinct feeling that she would find out what it was... and she wasn't looking forward to it.

Sun's hand on her shoulder brought her out of her musings, and she turned to see him giving her a comforting glance. She smiled briefly before turning her attention to Ilia, who'd been silent this whole time.

It couldn't have been easy for her to change sides like that, it proved that they could change the White Fang. Now, all they had to do was convince the rest of Menagerie of the same.

...

**And now a brief little omake that isn't canon to the rest of this.**

...

An unnaturally horrific screaming roar drew their attention back to the hallway as another streak of red lightning appeared, before it vanished, leaving another figure in its wake.

This... thing was wearing a black suit, with a red and black lightning symbol on its chest, similar to the Reverse-Flash. That was where the similarities ended. It seemed to be wearing a mask covering its whole head, one that had clearly been partially ripped away, exposing its face.

And that visage was the stuff of nightmares: it was clearly a rotted corpse under the costume, but that didn't seem to stop this creature in the slightest. It felt... unnatural, moreso than any Grimm.

In an instant, it was standing right in front of Blake, growling angrily. Then abruptly, the speed zombie vanished, leaving Blake's heart pounding away in her chest. Ghira was the one who broke the silence.

"What in the name of the Gods was that?"


	6. Haven

After getting Qrow to safety in Mistral, Team JNPRR followed the Huntsman to his meeting with Professor Lionheart, hoping to get support in finding the Spring Maiden. Instead, he couldn't help, which was disappointing to the team.

But what was more shocking was when Qrow brought in a young man named Oscar Pine, who revealed that he was bonded with the soul of Professor Ozpin. What followed was... surprising to say the least.

Speaking through Oscar, Ozpin revealed that he had been cursed by the Gods themselves to constantly reincarnate over a thousand years, and that he had established the Hunting academies to protect the Relics.

After that, he established his plans to train Team JNPRR, noting that Ruby was poor at fighting without her scythe, Jaune had yet to unlock his Semblance, and scolding Pyyrha for her foolishness in trying to take on Cinder alone.

However, one conversation led to another and the group ended up explaining to Ozpin as to how Pyyrha made it off Beacon tower in the first place, which Qrow confirmed, as well as Ruby's brief abduction on the way to Mistral. Oscar quietly listened as they spoke of the Flash, then Ozpin spoke again.

"Strange." Ozpin commented. "I've met someone exactly like that before."

"Well, why is that so strange?" Jaune asked. "For you, I mean."

"Because I met him centuries ago." The man replied. "If he's here now, then that raises a number of questions as to who he is and what he can do."

"But he saved us." Ruby protested. "I'm sure he's on our side."

"I agree." Oscar's head nodded. "More worrying is the man who abducted you, the one with the same powers. You said he knew Salem?"

"Yeah, he mentioned her." The young redhead replied.

"Hm." Ozpin sipped his coffee. "That's not a good sign. Red and yellow lightning..."

"That mean something, Oz?" Qrow asked.

"I've seen that during the Great War, in the final battle." He shook his head. "I didn't think much of it at the time, but now... it appears we may face another potential problem."

...

In a hidden room in Haven, Arthur Watts and Leonardo Lionheart were speaking with Salem through one of her Seer Grimm about the arrival of Qrow Branwen and the revelation that he knew where the Spring Maiden was hiding.

He had asked that Salem hurry to stop them, but that just ended up with the Seer Grimm choking him. After that was finished, the had reached the point of discussion about Qrow's companions, and what else that could mean.

"And considering the young one is there, it seems Eobard was unsuccessful."

"Indeed. Mr. Thawne still hasn't reported back." Watts said. "It appears something has delayed him."

"It is of no consequence." Salem dismissed it with a wave of her hand. "He will return or he will not, but the plan will proceed."

"Of course." Watts bowed. "The machine he brought is all but ready."

Lionheart looked between the two, confused about everything, but wisely kept his mouth shut. Salem switched topics, ordering Cinder and her team to get the Spring Maiden while Lionheart would contact Hazel. Watts, by contrast, was told that Tyrian would need a new tail.

"What happened to his old one?"

"Guess." Watts pinched the bridge of his nose.

"The silver-eyed girl?" Cinder's glare answered Arthur's question. "It will be done." He bowed.

"Good." Salem's visage vanished before Watts looked at the still kneeling Lionheart.

"It seems Qrow was right, Lionheart. The students aren't pushovers."

...

Back in Salem's keep, the Grimm Witch turned to Cinder, who was looking out the window.

"You are free to speak your mind."

"I don't understand. Working with bandits now?" Cinder asked. "Lionheart, the White Fang, Thawne. We're strong enough to take what we want by force. Why do we need them?"

"Never underestimate the usefulness of others." Salem said simply. There was a brief pause before the Grimm witch spoke again. "You really don't like Eobard, do you?"

"I don't trust him." Cinder said simply. "He shows up out of nowhere and offers to help. Then he vanishes without a trace, coming and going as he pleases. Why are you so willing to listen to him?"

"Because I've seen him before. Centuries ago, in fact." Salem noted the Fall Maiden's confused look. "A story for another time. But you will have the power I promised you when the time is right. But it does come with a cost. If Ruby Rose has learned to harness her gift, then you must take care to protect yours. There's only so much I can do to aid you."

Cinder glanced at her covered arm, then bowed to Salem before turning to leave and walking towards the door. "And Cinder," she turned back to Salem. "Before you go, inform Tyrian that I wish to have a word with him."

A smirk crawled up Cinder's face before she nodded and left the room.

* * *

Later

A lot had happened in the last few weeks: Team JNPRR had been practicing with Oscar and Ozpin, training to become even better fighters, with even Pyyrha having difficulty with this new training.

Meanwhile, Qrow was out attempting to gather more Huntsman and Huntresses to aid them, but found all of them to be missing in action. Good news had come in the form of Yang and Weiss, who had sought out Raven Branwen and learned quite a bit about Salem from her before she transported them to Qrow.

After the reunion, more training and discussions about how they had grown, Qrow got a message from Lionheart, who claimed that he wanted to meet with them to discuss the retrieval of the Spring Maiden. Ozpin and Qrow were wary, and decided to bring everyone else as well.

The group had gathered in the main hall, where Raven revealed herself and opened a portal, allowing Cinder, Emerald, Mercury and Raven's lieutenant Vernal to come through. Hazel appeared behind them, sealing the doors and proclaiming that the White Fang were prepared to demolish Haven.

"No one is leaving."

In short it was the perfect ambush. With the Teams surrounded and fighting against two Maidens, the odds were heavily stacked against them. Then seconds later, the odds got even worse.

A streak of red lightning flashed into the room, resolving itself into the same man in yellow that had kidnapped Ruby earlier. Everyone tensed at the new arrival, Raven, Vernal and Lionheart included. Hazel was as stoic as ever, but Cinder just looked annoyed.

"About time you showed up."

"I've been busy." The monstrous voice replied. "And I decided to call a couple friends of mine."

At those words, a middle-aged blonde man wearing a suit walked out of the shadows to the side, casually looking around the room without a care in the world, focusing on the 'good guys' as he stood next to Reverse-Flash.

"Wow, you weren't kidding. This is what you're having trouble with?" He gestured to the alliance behind him and Reverse-Flash before gesturing forward. "A drunk and a bunch of children?"

" _Humans are weak._ " Everyone but the suited man and Reverse-Flash flinched as a voice appeared directly in their minds, then gaped as a giant gorilla also emerged from the shadows. " _And none are innocent. This will not take long._ "

"Allow me to introduce my compatriots." The speedster gestured to the suited man. "Damien Darhk," he then gestured to the gorilla, "and Grodd."

"So, some sort of businessman and a talking gorilla." Qrow snarked in spite of himself, causing Grodd to growl. "Is this what you-hurk!"

Qrow gasped and was lifted into the air, to the shock of everyone except Reverse-Flash, Grodd, and Darhk, who was the one lifting the Huntsman with his magical power and a smirk on his face.

"I'm sorry, I didn't quite hear you." Darhk said casually. "Could you repeat that?" Teams RWBY, JNPR, and Oscar readied their weapons, prompting their enemies to do the same.

Thawne didn't wait: in less than a second, he and Ruby vanished only to appear on the other side of the room with his hand around her neck. "It's good to see you again, Miss Rose." The monstrous voice growled as he tossed Crescent Rose aside.

"Ruby!"

Yang, Weiss and Oscar started towards the speedster, only for them to freeze at Darhk's gesture. Team JNPR wasn't able to help, as they all started writhing in pain, clutching their heads as horrific images and sensations filled their minds.

" _You think you know suffering?_ " Grodd's voice echoed in their heads. " _This is true pain._ "

The rest of Salem's group looked at each other in surprise, while Raven, Vernal and Lionheart were more fearful. The three supervillains had effortlessly incapacitated Ozpin's servants, that it seemed like they weren't even needed.

"So," Darhk clasped his hands together with a cheerful tone as the Huntsman choked to death above him while the others either stood frozen or writhed in agony. "who wants to die first?"

At that moment, a streak of yellow lightning burst into the room, getting Reverse-Flash away from Ruby and throwing him at Darhk, before hitting Cinder, Vernal, Raven, Hazel, Emerald, Mercury and Lionheart, in that order.

With all that happening in less than two seconds, the newly released Qrow registered the Flash's appearance when he paused right in front of them, hurling a bolt of his own lightning at Grodd, who roared in pain as he was knocked back as well.

"Are you guys alright?" The red-clad speedster turned to Qrow, offering him a hand up.

"I'm fine." Qrow took it as Ruby and Yang ran forward to help. "Thanks to you."

The Flash's actions had freed everyone else from Darhk's magic and Grodd's mental torture. The team didn't have long to celebrate, as the distorted laughter of the Reverse-Flash echoed through the hall.

"Well, I can't say I'm surprised you're here." The yellow-clad speedster stood up. "Though it is getting really annoying."

"You're predictable, Thawne." The Flash replied. Everyone else raised their weapons as the Grimm allies recovered.

"So, you're the Flash." Cinder said as she stood up. "I don't think we've ever had a chance to talk like this."

"I'm sorry." A look of confusion crossed the hero's face. "Who are you again?" The Fall Maiden's face darkened.

"You shouldn't have come alone, Flash." Hazel growled, with Cinder punctuating it by igniting a flame in her hand. To their surprise, the speedster smiled.

"I didn't."

A blue-white portal opened behind the gathered members of Team RWY, JNPR, Qrow and Oscar, causing everyone to turn in shock. A blue and red blur flew out of the portal first, crashing to the ground with enough force to unleash a shockwave that sent the villains flying again.

The new arrival was a blonde woman, clad in a red and blue suit with a knee-length red cape, and a stylized 'S' on her chest. But she wasn't the only one: several other individuals emerged from the breach, most clad in unusual outfits.

...

**Author's note: (Besides Flash and Supergirl, the list includes Green Arrow, Black Canary, Ragman, White Canary, Heat Wave, Citizen Cold, ATOM, Citizen Steel, Amaya, Zari, Killer Frost and Vibe. For your reference as well as mine)**

...

"Kill them all!" Cinder shouted.

The speedsters didn't waste any time, as Flash and Reverse-Flash immediately came into conflict, vanishing from everyone's sight in a streak of red and yellow lightning. The others quickly followed suit, with Cinder immediately unleashing her power against Supergirl.

To her surprise, the Kryptonian barely reacted before Cinder was abruptly sent flying across the room into the wall. Vernal attempted to shoot her, but screamed in pain as heat vision turned one of her weapons to slag. Hazel looked at her with a weary eye.

"You must be the Kryptonian." Hazel said. "Thawne left us something to deal with you."

A humanoid red android fell from the ceiling, its hands spinning rapidly and forming a gust of wind that sent Kara flying back. The Girl of Steel recovered enough to get a good look at it.

"Red Tornado?"

"Actually we call it Red Tempest." An arrogant voice emerged from the machine. "A fascinating design really, and extremely powerful when amplified by Dust." The machine began hovering with the use of Gravity Dust. "Would you care for a demonstration?"

Supergirl didn't reply; instead she flew into the machine, punching Red Tempest in the face as they flew towards the roof. The android responded with bolts of lightning and altered gravity, and the two flying bricks flew through the roof like it was made of paper towel.

"Well, now that that's out of the way." Cinder walked towards Jaune and Pyyrha, her remaining eye glowing with fire. The young Huntsman noticed her, but was blasted aside by a burst of fire as the Fall Maiden approached her target.

"I'm going to finish what I started." Cinder snarled, a flaming sword forming in her hand. Pyyrha held her sword and shield in a ready position.

Meanwhile, Qrow was fighting against his sister, while Vernal was taking on Weiss, slightly handicapped with one of her weapons destroyed. Yang and Ruby were forced to duel Mercury and Emerald, Ren, Nora and Citizen Steel were dealing with Hazel, while Sara, Green Arrow and Ragman were fighting Damien Darhk, while the rest of the heroes were forced to deal with Grodd.

Eventually, Sara was knocked away by Darhk, and landed near Qrow. However, Ragman had managed to grab the sorcerer for a moment before hurling him into Lionheart. Oliver used that distraction to hit Raven with an explosive arrow, who quickly transformed in order to recover.

"Well, this is going fairly well." Sara groaned as she rose to her feet, looking to Qrow, who gave her a shrewd look. "And there's another problem, then."

"They said the White Fang are already outside." Qrow said. "They're going to demolish the school."

"Not on our watch." Sara said. "Mick, Snart, Dinah, Ragman, you're with me."

The five of them broke off to retreat outside, the rest of the Legends and Team Flash had Grodd in hand, with some already aiding the others. Mercury took a bad blow from Yang, landing near Darhk and Lionheart.

"We're outmatched." Lionheart cursed. "This was not supposed to happen."

"Fortunately, we have a contingency in play." Darhk replied calmly. "Grodd and I weren't the only ones Eobard called. And they're already waiting for the signal." He hit a button on his watch. "Which I just gave them."

"More 'friends'?" Mercury sighed. "We barely know you. Who else did Thawne bring?" Darhk's smirk wasn't pleasant.

"He just called them: old friends from Earth-X."

* * *

Adam Taurus wasn't exactly in the best of moods right now. This was supposed to be a simple operation: his allies would do their task while the White Fang demolished Haven Academy and bug out before anyone realized what was happening.

Then a pair of figures shot out of the ceiling of the building, clashing in mid-air as bolts of lightning, fire, ice and lasers streaked through the air, while two streaks of lightning, both yellow and red, weaved through the courtyard and into the city. Then Blake showed up, with an army of Faunus and Mistral's own police forces ordering them to halt.

Furious, Adam tried to detonate the bombs, but found them to have been disarmed. And after that, things got even worse, when five strangely dressed figures emerged into the courtyard, turning their weapons at the White Fang as well.

"So much for dealing with the bombs." Sara muttered, drawing a pair of batons. "I guess this is just clean up."

Now, it seemed that the tides were turning against them, right up until an army of gas-masked soldiers appeared from nowhere, with red and black styled symbols on their arms.

"Oh, you've gotta be kidding me." Dinah stared in disbelief. "I thought we were done with this!"

"Kill them all!" One of the soldiers shouted. "Avenge the Fuhrer in the name of the Fatherland!"

"Great, who invited them?" Snart sighed, turning his Cold gun on his hated foes.

"I hate Nazis!" Mick growled, burning several soldiers with his flamethrower.

"I'm not even going to ask." A vaguely demonic voice emerged from Ragman's mask as his robes casually intercepted bullets shot at him, before lashing out at the soldiers.

The Nazis attacked, but to Adam's surprise and annoyance, they were completely indiscriminate, targeting anyone and everyone around them. Faunus retreated to cover as the officers traded fire with them.

Through this, Adam quickly could tell that this mission was lost and moved to run, only for Blake to intercept him. Enraged, the bull Faunus charged, only for his ex-lover to easily avoid and strike him in the back, causing him to stumble to the ground.

The White Fang began scattering as the Nazis targeted everyone, their hatred in particular seemed to be the group of colorful individuals who had arrived outside, along with their allies in the office.

Unfortunately for them, the heroes made short work of them. Streams of fire and ice brought the soldiers down, Sara brutally beat down one before hurling a pair of throwing knives into two others.

Black Canary's Cry sent a dozen Nazis flying, while Ragman's robes intercepted bullets and hurled several Nazis aside. Still, they were slowly being overwhelmed, at least until the office fight began spilling outside.

Ray flew through the Nazi ranks at microscopic size, firing off energy blasts before un-shrinking and uppercutting one into the air before grabbing another and throwing him aside. Nate waded through gunfire like it was nothing, casually tossing the soldiers aside while Oliver quickly put arrows in several others before turning back to deal with Darhk.

Back in the office, things were also going fairly well. Cinder's fight with Pyyrha was interrupted when she was blown away by a gust of wind from Zari. Amaya helped Ruby fight Emerald, while Yang sucker-punched Mercury after he took a hit from Killer Frost.

Then Hazel realized that Oscar was Ozpin, and pulled out lightning dust crystals. The fight shifted against the heroes at that point as the berserker rampaged through them, with only Nora having a chance thanks to her Semblance.

Then Weiss turned against them.

The Schnee ex-heiress abruptly turned and swung at the ice metahuman who had been aiding her, with Frost barely blocking the attack with a large icicle blade. She used her glyphs to send Killer Frost flying, before striking at Jaune and Pyyrha.

"Weiss!" Yang shouted. "What are you doing?!"

"Pathetic." It was Weiss' voice that emerged from her lips, but the inflection and tone were all wrong. "You all feel connections to each other, and it will be your downfall."

"Grodd." Cisco said, turning to the gorilla in question. "He's controlling her!"

ATOM flew back into the room, but was knocked aside by a summoned Knight, which was frozen solid by Killer Frost. Yang fired a couple blasts from her gauntlets before she launched herself in Grodd's direction, narrowly avoiding the sweep of the Knight's sword as it broke free, but was swatted away by Grodd himself.

"Her life is mine." Weiss said, spinning her weapon into a reverse-grip. "And it ends now."

"NO!" Ruby screamed as it became clear what was going to happen.

Weiss stabbed herself in the stomach, Grodd's control vanishing as the blade pierced her body. Weiss' eyes widened in horror before she collapsed to the ground, her weapon still in her torso.

There was a brief moment of silent shock, then Ruby abruptly screamed, her silver eye powers activating and lighting up the room. Cinder recoiled in pain, and strangely enough, Darhk did as well, though his reaction was less severe than Cinder's.

The bright light vanished when Emerald struck Ruby from behind, forcing her powers to halt. Still having some Aura left, Ruby was quick to spin around and retaliate, sending Emerald flying into Mercury.

Suddenly, the young redhead froze in place as Darhk approached, his previously calm and smug visage now replaced with tranquil fury. "That... was... unpleasant." The sorcerer snarled as Ruby was lifted into the air.

...

Time stood still.

At least, that was what it looked like for the two speedsters, who were battling each other inside and outside the building, weaving through the combatants as the Flash chased his nemesis, occasionally trading blows as their chase eventually made its way through Mistral proper.

The two arch-enemies were evenly matched; while Barry was ultimately the faster of the two, it was Thawne who was the better fighter, having more experience in hand to hand combat.

The speedster duel continued all throughout Mistral, as Flash and Reverse-Flash exchanged a dozen blows and ran to the opposite ends of the city in the time it took everyone else to blink.

Up and down the sides of buildings, through the roads and streets, even through the rivers and waterfalls, their duel continued, the two bitter enemies refusing to concede any advantage to the other.

Their's wasn't the only conflict that had spread beyond Haven Academy grounds: Supergirl and Red Tempest continued their fight over and through the skyline of Mistral. The Dust infused android was proving quite difficult for Kara, even more than Red Tornado.

Kara tried to minimize the destruction as much as possible, keeping their fight above Mistral's skyline, but Watts (who was controlling Red Tempest), had no such reservations. The two became briefly entrapped in a tug of war between Supergirl's heat vision and Red Tempest's lightning, which was ended when she closed the gap and punched the android in the face.

The impact caused a momentary loss of control, and the robot hurled blasts of fire, ice and lightning all around it, including the ground below. Red Tempest redirected those blasts back at Supergirl, distracting her from the damage that had been done and forcing them in Haven's direction.

Fortunately no one had been hit, but the projectiles had broken a small bridge over the edge of a waterfall, and it was close to falling off. One pedestrian had already been knocked off the edge. The two speedsters were close by and noticed this.

Barry didn't hesitate.

The Flash diverted from his pursuit and immediately got the people off the bridge before it fell. Turning his attention to the one in midair, he immediately ran down to the bottom of the cliff and created a wind funnel, allowing her to fall safely to the ground.

With the bystanders safe, Barry sped away, searching for Eobard's trail, but unfortunately it had gone cold. The speedster paused for a second, looking around, then was hit by a moment of inspiration before vanishing once more in a streak of yellow lightning.

...

Pyyrha stood on the platform that entered into the vault, standing near the elevator as Yang spoke to Raven. A lot had happened in the last few minutes. When Weiss had stabbed herself, Ruby's silver eye powers had activated, hurting both Cinder and surprisingly, Darhk.

Unfortunately, the sorcerer had thrown Ruby aside before her powers could fully activate, though that didn't last long before Snart and Mick forced him back. Grodd was quick to retaliate, which Raven, Cinder and Vernal had used the distraction to enter the vault, heading down the elevator shaft below.

Fortunately, Jaune had discovered his semblance: the ability to recharge the aura of another, which he used on Weiss, healing the self-inflicted damage. The fight had continued on above, with Grodd and Darhk still dominating the fight initially.

Blake had also appeared briefly, showing the battle still raging outside. But then everyone had felt the ground shake below. Ruby wasted no time in ordering both Yang and her down into the shaft, which their enemies were blocking. However, the hero called Vibe had created a blue-white portal that led straight to the bottom chamber, completely bypassing the defenders.

When they emerged from the breach, Cinder was nowhere in sight and Vernal was lying dead on the floor. It quickly became clear that Raven was actually the Spring Maiden, considering that she was standing in front of the now open vault.

Pyyrha watched as mother and daughter spoke to one another, not saying a word. It was clear that Yang was feeling a lot of pent-up emotion over this, and it wasn't her right to interfere.

Raven accused Yang of being scared, briefly directing that accusation to her as well. Considering what she had seen of Cinder's power and knowing that Raven was the Spring Maiden, Pyyrha couldn't deny that she was.

Yang admitted it as well, then turned it against Raven by accusing her of being afraid of Salem, pointing out that her plan to steal the Relic would only make the bandit leader an even bigger target in the Grimm Witch's crosshairs.

To that end, Yang proposed that she take the Relic and that Raven take the chance to run. Considering her personality, it was surprising to see Raven so close to breaking down, but it seemed like Yang's words were getting through and that they would actually get to take the Relic without a fight.

Unfortunately, that option was about to be taken out of all of their hands.

In one second, Pyyrha had been knocked away, nearly tumbling over the edge. Yang and Raven were also thrown aside by the yellow-clad speedster who wasted no time in entering the now open vault.

Reverse-Flash paused long enough to carefully remove the relic from its resting place, as if mocking them, then he vanished once more in a streak of red lightning, returning through the portal and running past the three of them, before making his way up the elevator shaft.

* * *

Moments ago

The number of Nazis had died down, but it seemed that they were still coming from somewhere. To make matters worse, a pair of Atlesian Paladins marched out, their weapons armed and ready. They would tear most of the Faunus forces and Mistral's police to shreds.

"Giant robots. Really?" Sara sighed. "Where are they getting these things?"

"I'm on it."

Ray flew past, narrowly avoiding missiles from the two Paladins before shrinking himself down near one and blasting a hole inside it. The ATOM's actions within the mech quickly caused it to shut down.

The second Paladin turned its attention to the rest of the Faunus army and Mistral police, but a blur of red smashed into the robot and all but shattered it into a million pieces. Red Tempest pushed itself up from the remains, completely undamaged from the massive impact.

At least until Supergirl's heat vision began burning into it, with the android struggling to keep its structural integrity. A stream of fire and ice followed as Citizen Cold and Heat Wave joined in as well.

Dinah's Canary Cry added itself, alongside Ray's ion blaster fire, Cisco's vibrations, and Killer Frost's ice blasts. The combined energy heated up Red Tempest before it was eventually torn apart, the volatile Dust combusting as it overloaded.

The superheroes paused to take a breath, but the peace didn't exactly last long. There was a brief scream as Sun and Nate were sent flying behind them, followed by Grodd's angry roar.

Ray's ion blasts struck the meta-animal, but the gorilla was more annoyed then hurt and roared angrily. He growled again as Blake unleashed a flurry of slashes, then snarled when his first attack merely hit one of her shadow clones.

Unfortunately, ATOM made a mistake and flew close enough for Grodd to grab him. The gorilla promptly hurled him at the cat Faunus' true location and both hit the ground painfully.

While this was happening, the remaining superheroes were quick to deal with the platoons of Nazis that were still pouring into the area, while Cisco went to close the breach that they were emerging from.

It didn't take long for that to happen, and with the Nazi advance halted and Mistral's police and Menagerie's Faunus working to deal with the White Fang, it decreased the number of threats they would need to deal with.

Naturally, Damien Darhk decided to change that. Darhk's magic sent everyone but Oliver flying, as the Green Arrow moved closer to fight the sorcerer while everyone slowly got back up.

"You killed me before Mr. Queen." Darhk pulled a dagger out from his jacket. "And I'm going to enjoy returning the favor."

"You know, I would say the same." The sorcerer managed to catch the knife aimed for his neck. Green Arrow gestured to Sara. "But I believe she deserves the honor this time."

Their potential duel was halted when Reverse-Flash ran past, completely ignoring the conflict around him and instantly entering the elevator shaft that led down to the vault.

It didn't take long for him to return.

The streak of red lightning blitzed through the office and into the courtyard, before being rerouted by a streak of yellow lightning that had come from the city. Flash and Reverse-Flash were both sent flying before skidding to a halt across opposite sides of the courtyard. Something fell from the exchange, which Ozpin and the rest quickly recognized was the Relic.

"Isn't that-" Sun started, but was interrupted by shouting.

"Grab the relic!"

It was a moment of chaos as the people in the know rushed for the Relic. Supergirl intercepted Hazel as he dashed to the whispering lantern, the Kryptonian easily sending him flying with a single punch.

Suddenly, Kara's hands clutched her head, her mind being slowly overwhelmed by Grodd's mental attack. Cisco, Amaya, Zari and Frost immediately moved to attack Grodd, and the gorilla found himself struggling for a moment.

Nate tossed Mercury aside while Ray blasted Emerald away, before Darhk halted both of them in place. He casually walked to the Relic, freezing Ruby, then Jaune as the two leaders attempted to engage him.

He was standing over the lantern when he did stop, quickly moving to halt an arrow from Oliver. The archer was too close, and engaged Darhk in hand to hand combat, while Sara was the one who managed to grab the Relic.

It didn't last long in her possession, as Hazel had recovered and punched her in the chest, before picking up the Relic himself. He dropped it and clutched his ears as a deafening sound hit him, the Canary Cry being enough to knock him away into the path of Nora.

Emerald promptly returned the favor to Dinah, lashing out with her chains against the metahuman. She wasn't able to capitalize on this, as Ragman threw several Nazis at her before grabbing a hold of Mercury as he attempted to recover.

Adam, who was unaware of what was so important about this Relic, was engaged in combat with Blake and Sun. Meanwhile, Weiss and Qrow were dealing with the Nazis that still remained, while Grodd threw Cisco and Frost aside.

Throughout all this, Supergirl was still struggling against Grodd's mental attack, Flash and Reverse-Flash were still clashing throughout the courtyard, and Ozpin/Oscar was still recovering from his fight against Lionheart and Hazel.

Eventually though, Eobard had an opening.

Reverse-Flash snatched the relic before anyone else could grab it, running away before entering a strange portal that appeared out of nowhere. The Flash followed immediately, entering the rift less than a second before it closed, leaving the rest confused and shocked. Darhk, however, had a brief flicker of annoyance on his face as he managed to briefly overpower Oliver in combat, knocking the Green Arrow aside.

"Of course he leaves." Darhk muttered as he walked away.

A couple Faunus moved to stop him, but Damien casually tossed them aside with magic as he approached the still rampaging gorilla, who was still struggling against the totem users, being buffeted by a gust of wind. A quick swipe hurled both of them away as well.

"Well this has been fun." Damien pulled out a small device from his suit pocket. "But I think it's time we take our leave. Grodd?"

The telepathic gorilla growled before turning to follow the dark magic user. A breach opened in the middle of the courtyard and the two entered, which promptly closed behind them.

Zari, Amaya, Sara and Oliver looked at the space where the portal had been with annoyance, then turned back to the battle in the courtyard. Seeing that there were still Nazis fighting, Green Arrow drew an arrow while Sara pulled out her staff and Amaya was surrounded by the glow of an elephant.

The four of them charged into the fray.

...

With their allies straight up abandoning them, it was clear to Salem's cronies that this was a losing battle. Lionheart had already retreated, no doubt attempting to flee for his life. And with Darhk and Grodd gone and Eobard missing (the latter of which had taken the relic), the young members of Teams RWBY and JNPR were calling for their surrender.

The White Fang were being arrested, the superheroes were mopping up the last of these Nazis, the Paladins and Red Tempest was a pile of scrap metal on the ground. Yet despite everything, Emerald held out hope that Cinder would emerge from the vault and turn this around.

That hope died when Yang and Pyyrha rode the elevator up from the vault with the Fall Maiden nowhere in sight. Emerald all but collapsed as the reality set in, despite Mercury's attempt to get her to focus.

Then her Semblance went into overdrive as a giant image of Salem appeared in the middle of the room, looking extremely unnatural. The abomination screamed and attacked, giving the criminals time to escape.

"What-what was that?" Blake shuddered, looking at everyone else.

"An illusion, but an accurate one." It was Ozpin who answered. "That was Salem."

* * *

Hazel sprinted through the forest with the still unconscious Emerald in his arms, Mercury struggling to follow as well. They soon reached the clearing where Watts was waiting with their airship out of here.

"I take it the mission didn't go as planned?" He snarked as they approached, tossing aside the control implants that he had used to direct Red Tempest.

"Cinder's dead." Mercury said simply. Watts suppressed a snort.

"I find it hard to call that a negative." He ignored Mercury's impotent glare to focus on Hazel. "What of the relic?"

"Thawne took the relic and left us." Hazel snarled, gently setting Emerald down. "I knew we couldn't trust him." A streak of red lightning turned their attention to the edge of the clearing beside them.

"Oh ye of little faith." The speedster had pulled his mask off, his appearance and voice now normal. Hazel snarled and stalked over to him.

"Where's the relic?" The warrior demanded. "What have you done with it?"

"Calm down. The relic is safe."

"Then where is it?" Watts asked. Eobard pointed to a tree that was just at the edge of the clearing.

"I hid it in there." Thawne replied. "The tree's hollow." Watts and Hazel looked at each other.

"When did you do that?"

"About two hundred years ago." Thawne waved his hand in a dismissive gesture. "Give or take 10 to 15 years. See for yourself." Hazel walked over to the tree, while Mercury looked at the time traveler, an expression of annoyance written on his face.

"You know, your magician friend and his pet gorilla just straight up abandoned us." Mercury crossed his arms before gesturing to Watts. "And that robot you two put together didn't exactly do much. Now Cinder's gone."

"Grodd and Darhk have their uses." The speedster replied as Hazel punched a hole in the tree. "And as for Red Tempest, considering that it kept Supergirl busy, I'd say it was a resounding success." Their conversation was interrupted by Hazel's voice.

"The relic's not here."

"What?" Eobard was standing next to the hiding place in the blink of an eye, looking through the new hole in the tree. The relic was gone. And if that was the case, then that only meant one thing.

"Flash!" He growled, barely containing his rage.

* * *

189 years ago.

Reverse-Flash emerged into a clearing, nearly two centuries before a specific airship would use it as an impromptu landing pad. The red-eyed speedster looked around and a smirk grew on his face.

Nothing was present and more importantly, the Flash was nowhere to be seen. Eobard laughed. His nemesis had followed him into the Speed Force and the two had clashed throughout all of Remnant's history.

The future speedster had finally managed to lose Barry during the Great War of Remnant, more specifically in the final battle of Vacuo. Now, Reverse-Flash knew the best place to hide his prize so his nemesis would never find it.

Hidden inside a fairly hollow tree, having been phased through so that nobody would be able to notice it. The speedster had been tempted to bring it back himself, but this way would ensure the Relic's safety in the unlikely event Barry managed to find him again.

With his prize secure, Eobard sped away, entering into the Speed Force. Mere seconds after he left, another time portal appeared, and the Flash emerged from it, immediately running over to the relic's hiding place and taking it.

Cisco had contacted him through the Speed Force, having been able to vibe where Thawne was headed and giving Barry the location needed. With the relic finally secure, the Flash immediately entered into the Speed Force as well, his destination in sight.

...

Present time

The battle of Haven Academy was finally winding down: the White Fang had all but surrendered and Salem's lieutenants had retreated. The two Paladins had been utterly destroyed, along with the Red Tempest android.

Darhk and Grodd had retreated, but the Nazis had refused to surrender, which was just as well as the Legends, Team Flash and Team Arrow weren't looking for it. With their heavy hitters gone, the heroes made short work of them, leaving the ground littered with Nazi corpses.

Of course, the Remnant natives obviously had tons of questions, both to each other (Blake and Sun still didn't know why Team RWY and JNPR were here), but also for the superheroes, who weren't looking forward to it.

But Qrow and Oscar/Ozpin had a much bigger concern right now: specifically, the location of the Relic of Knowledge. Reverse-Flash had stolen it and he and Flash had disappeared through some kind of portal.

When asked where they had gone, the woman called Killer Frost had said dismissively; "Either in the past or the future. Ask Vibe." Which, to Ozpin, suddenly made a lot of events much clearer now, but that just raised new questions.

A portal appeared in the center of the main hall, and a streak of yellow lightning emerged. The Flash came to a halt in front of Qrow, holding the Relic of Knowledge out to the Huntsman.

"I believe you were looking for this." The speedster handed it to Qrow, who gently took the Relic.

"I'm not even going to ask." The Huntsman sighed.

"Well, I have to." Yang sighed. "Who are you people?" She gestured to the superheroes around them. "Where did you guys even come from?"

The members of Teams Flash, Arrow, Legends and Supergirl glanced at each other, with a number of them sighing, pinching their noses or just shrugging. The Flash was the one who broke the silence and turned back to Yang.

"Where to begin..."


	7. History

Once upon a time, locked up in a tower by her cruel father, there lived a lonely girl named Salem. That's how the story went, and for most people, that was enough. But why did her father go to all that effort to lock her away? The answer to that could be found in Salem's childhood, when her father met up with a supposed seer who could see the future.

"And you're telling me that if my daughter is allowed her freedom, then she will rise up and cause the end of everything?" The father asked incredulously, sitting cross-legged in a dirty tent, sitting across from a man who's face was cloaked by a hood.

"That's what the visions have foretold." The seer replied. "They have foreseen it."

"How do I know you're not trying to swindle me?" The father's eyes narrowed as a magic appeared in his hand. "I will not be taken in by some charlatan."

"Well, you could always ask yourself." The man replied, as a ghostly blue apparition of a bald woman's head suddenly appeared between the two men, shocking the girl's father.

"Salem's freedom will mean the end of days." The ghostly image said, a strange tone tinging her voice. "She will cause catastrophe wherever she goes and leave naught but destruction in her wake." Just as suddenly as the image appeared, it then vanished, leaving the father looking rather pale.

"I... see." The father said after a moment. "You've certainly given me a lot to think about. How much for this service?"

"No payment is necessary." The seer replied. "Only the request that you heed this warning before it's too late."

Still shaken, the father agreed and left, leaving the seer alone in the tent. Once he was, the man pulled off his hood and smirked, before holding out his outstretched palm, allowing a smaller hologram to appear over his hand.

"I think that went rather well, wouldn't you agree, Gideon?"

"Indeed, Professor Thawne." The AI replied. "Records from the timeline show that Salem's father will end up doing exactly as we suggested. The word will spread about what he has done."

"Leaving Ozma to eventually take the mission himself." Eobard Thawne smirked. "And creating such a beautiful love story that gets tragically cut short." It certainly reminded the speedster of another hero's story that he knew of, though the details weren't quite the same, of course.

"We've insured that history will play out as you intended." Gideon confirmed. "Upon Ozma's death, Salem will go before the Gods, get cursed for her deceit, and raise an army against the Brothers, causing all of humanity on this world to be wiped out."

"Good." Thawne said. "Then we're done here."

And in a streak of red lightning, the speedster vanished from the tent.

...

Years later

When he had retrieved the Relic of Knowledge, the speedster had expected to have a simple return trip back to the present. Bu that wasn't the case; somehow the Relic was interacting with the Speed Force, showing him all of Remnant's ancient history and in the latest case, depositing him right in the middle of it.

The Flash emerged from a time portal, running through the ancient time period of Remnant and unintentionally making it to the cliffs surrounding the Pool of Life before he stopped. From his vantage point, he could see an army standing in front of two dragons, one golden, the other purple.

Thanks to the Relic, he knew who the dragons were: the Gods of Light and Darkness, but why the Relic had brought him to this moment he still didn't know. Then he saw her: it was Salem, leading the army against their own gods.

He watched as the army unleashed magical blasts against their creators, which did absolutely nothing as the God of Darkness simply absorbed all that power into his hand, forming a sphere of dark energy.

"My own gifts turned against me." The God of Light looked away in remorse, leaving the Scarlet Speedster very afraid as the Dark Brother clenched his fist, releasing the energy in his hand.

Time slowed for the Flash as he watched the God's attack wipe out the entire army except for Salem. But the purple energy wave didn't stop with them, instead it kept moving, continuing its omnidirectional path.

Realizing that he was in that path, Barry immediately took off, keeping ahead of the energy wave while hoping it would dissipate. But it didn't, and to the speedster's utter horror, he realized that the energy wouldn't stop. The God of Darkness had just wiped out every human on Remnant, and even the Fastest Man Alive couldn't save them.

Gritting his teeth and steeling his resolve, Barry opened another portal into the Speed Force and entered it, leaving the apocalypse behind. He was tempted to go back, to try and keep the Gods from unleashing their retribution, but after Flashpoint, he was hesitant to try something like that again, given how many catastrophic effects it could have on the timeline.

But the memory of what he had just seen refused to go away, and thanks to his speedster mind, it would never go away. Following the Relic's guide, Barry exited the Speed Force, changing out of his costume before running to the steps overlooking the God of Light's domain.

He had to try.

Barry had arrived at the moment Salem was beginning to walk up the long staircase leading to the Pool of Life. As she was ascending, Barry called out to her, briefly halting her journey as she turned back around.

"Who-who are you?"

"That doesn't matter." Barry replied. "What matters is that I know what you're planning to do. What you'll ask of the Gods. But you can't bring him back."

"You sound like my father." The future Grimm Queen replied. "Did he send you? Even after all this time, he tries to control me."

"I'm not with your father." The Flash shook his head. "But you're not going to like where you end up if you go down this path." There was a brief moment of silence before Salem spoke again.

"Have you ever loved someone?" Salem asked. "Truly loved someone with all your heart? Someone you'd lay down your life for and who'd do the same in return?" A face immediately appeared in Barry's mind as she asked that, causing his thumb to subconsciously rub his wedding ring.

_Iris._

"I understand the pain you're going through." Barry replied, as the memories of Flashpoint and Savitar's prophecy flashed into his mind. "Believe me, I know. There's so much I've lost and I would like nothing more but to fix it. But this-this isn't the answer."

"This isn't the answer?" Salem repeated. "That's easy for you to say, when your lover is still alive!"

"And I nearly lost her." Barry shook his head. "She was prophesied to die, and in my attempts to avert that fate, I ensured the events that would lead it to happen. And even her salvation came at the cost of a friend." He shook his head. "Salem, I know the pain you feel. I live with that pain every day. But you can't change fate, not like this."

"You would do anything to protect your wife?" Salem asked quietly. "If you were in my place, if you knew that she could be brought back, would you not do the same?"

Barry opened his mouth to affirm that he wouldn't, then immediately shut it again. He had done the same with Flashpoint and his parents, and if Iris had died, he knew just what kind of dark path he would go down.

And with that understanding, he knew that Salem would never be dissuaded, no matter what he told her, and no matter what he did to try and stop her. Truthfully, he'd known as much when he came to this moment, but he had to at least try to talk her out of this. He watched silently as she walked up the steps to the God of Light's domain.

He could try to stop her, maybe even run her to the other side of the planet, but she'd inevitably come back. Maybe even tell her everything about the future, but that might make things even worse. There was one other option he had... but he wouldn't, he couldn't. Before he could think or say anything else, he heard a familiar voice behind him.

"Always so predictable, aren't you Barry?" The Speedster turned, seeing Thawne standing behind him, also clad in casual clothes. "You always want to play the hero, even when you know you shouldn't." Barry's fist clenched, but Eobard's eyes continued to follow Salem up the steps.

"Poor thing. Such a damaged mind." Thawne said. "If her childhood wasn't so sheltered, who knows what might've happened?" Something about the tone of his voice caused Barry to narrow his eyes.

"What did you do?"

"Catch me, and find out, Flash." Thawne pointed his costume ring as Barry immediately did the same.

Their costumes shot forth as the two enemies began to fight once again, with Thawne mostly running off while Barry was in pursuit. The two entered a portal into the Speed Force and went through time once more, their chase not lasting long before the emerged once more into Remnant's past.

They returned to the planet moments after the genocide of humanity, and the God of Darkness's destruction of the moon. Fragments of the damaged satellite rained down over the planet, but even that was all but frozen to the two speedsters.

Streaks of red and yellow lightning weaved through the storm of rocks before entering the Speed Force again, this time emerging during the reign of Salem and Ozma's second reincarnation as the new God Kings of Remnant.

Their battle there didn't last long either, as the Relic and their efforts to time travel kept sending them to different places and times in this world's history, until they eventually ended up in the Great War of Remnant, fighting throughout Vacuo as the final battle raged around them.

But after Thawne managed to get the Relic and retreat, Barry got a Vibe from Cisco, who managed to locate the Relic. The speedster was quick to retrieve it and return to the present, where the battle of Haven was finally mopping up.

But as the teams questioned where he and his friends had come from, the Flash knew that they had a lot of explaining to do...

...

Sometime after everything had settled down and everyone had gone to sleep, Oscar was still awake, looking over the balcony from their house in Mistral. Ozpin himself was mulling over the new knowledge from those colorful heroes and where they had come from.

Even after everything he'd seen in his life, it was a lot to take in. Time travel, alternate universes, worlds without Grimm or Gods. It was certainly surprising for everyone, but even he had been utterly stunned by these revelations.

But it was the revelation that both the Flash and Reverse-Flash could time travel at will that brought a chill down the reincarnated wizard's spine. As far as he had known, time travel was all but impossible, even to the Gods, and yet these two could do it with ease. It led him to wonder just how much of Remnant's history had been altered by them, or anyone else from the future.

His musings were interrupted by the appearance of the Flash right on the balcony, causing Oscar's body to take a step back. Still, Ozpin kept his face composed as he greeted the hero, but the response that came from the speedster's mouth confirmed one of his fears.

"Hello Ozma."


	8. Crisis

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, it's been a while since I did one of these chapters. And this time, we're going to do something very different now. We're going to skip ahead quite a bit, to the end of Volume 7, but also to the events of Crisis on Infinite Earths... so you can probably guess what happens next.
> 
> I know I haven't done as much with this lately, but I'll be honest, the spark for this story (and RWBY in general, to be frank) has just kinda left me. Hopefully doing this might rekindle that spark, since I just had a plot bunny that refused to let go. But let's dive right in, shall we?

To say that things were going poorly for Team RWBY was a massive understatement. And frankly, saying that shit had hit the fan would also be generous compared to what their situation actually was.

They had been branded fugitives by the now paranoid and desperate General Ironwood and on the run, the Relic of Knowledge had been stolen from Oscar and Team JNR, and to make things even worse, Salem had arrived, riding a massive Grimm that was bigger than Atlas.

And just when they thought things could not possibly get worse, the skies turned red. Thousands of eyes, Grimm, Human and Faunus alike were drawn to the sky as the relatively clear skies turned an unnatural shade of red, while yellow lightning began flashing through the atmosphere.

"Oh great, now what?!" Yang yelled in frustration, the stress of the last few hours threatening to boil over.

"Something is very wrong." Blake said, her eyes widened in terror. An unnatural chill crawled up Blake's spine as a spike of pure terror washed through her mind. She didn't know why, but she was terrified out of her wits.

She wasn't the only one. Far above Mantle, Salem watched in confusion and alarm as her Grimm army suddenly became tense and anxious. The Creatures of destruction almost seemed terrified of whatever was happening in the atmosphere.

And for the first time in millennia, Salem felt it as well. In all her countless years of life, this was nothing like anything she had seen before. Her first instinct was to assume that this was a herald of the Gods return, but that thought was quickly dismissed.

Unbeknownst to her, Ozpin was having the exact same thoughts in Oscar's mind. And had he been near Salem right now, he would have agreed with her. Whatever this was, it was clear that it was far, far beyond the Brothers of Light and Darkness.

"So, does anyone else have any explanation as to what we're dealing with?" Nora asked the obvious question. No one answered her.

Meanwhile, General Ironwood had returned to his office, and was demanding answers from Atlas' technicians. So far, none of the answers he had gotten were encouraging news.

"General, we've never seen energy readings like this before!" One technician said. "Whatever's going on, the atmosphere is being choked with this stuff."

"What's causing it?" Ironwood asked, clenching his fist. "Is it Salem? The Relics?"

"I-I don't know."

...

Unknown to the people in Atlas and Mantle, this wasn't an isolated incident. Over Vale, Vacuo, Mistral and Menagerie, the skies turned red. Millions of eyes looked up in confusion at the unprecedented event.

Glynda paused in her work with her fellow Beacon Faculty members as the Grimm worryingly seemed either sick or frightened. Oobleck's spectacles reflected the red of the skies as he adjusted them.

"My word. What an unprecedented scientific event!"

Sun Wukong was just relaxing in Vacuo with his team as the skies turned red. "What the..."

Elsewhere in Mistral, the Belladonnas looked up to the sky in confusion as well. Both of them looked at each other and grasped the other's hand, silently hoping that their daughter would be alright.

Due to the disruption in the atmosphere, no one on Remnant's surface could actually make out the moon anymore. As such, no one saw as the broken celestial body was consumed by a massive white wall of energy.

The energy didn't slow as the moon was devoured and continued onward, now reaching for the world of Remnant itself.

...

As Team RWBY tried to make their way out of Mantle, the red skies turned white. Thousands of people started screaming, many attempting to run in a futile effort to escape. But there would be no escape. The anti-matter consumed everything in its path, annihilating them from existence.

The entire floating city of Atlas was devoured as Ironwood looked on helplessly, all his efforts and sacrifices being undone in an instant before he too was consumed. Salem's Grimm army and the witch herself were devoured as well, the latter only able to look on helplessly.

For a brief moment, it seemed that Team RWBY would suffer the same fate, as the antimatter wave came ever closer as they tried unsuccessfully to outrun it. But that was when a breach opened right in front of them.

A streak of lightning emerged, grabbing all of them and taking them through the breach before anyone could react. The rescue was timely, as the breach closed seconds before the anti-matter could consume it.

...

In one instant, Ruby, Blake, Weiss and Yang seemed like they were inevitably doomed, trying to escape an apocalypse that was inescapable. The next instant, they found themselves somewhere unfamiliar, though judging by the red skies, it seemed they weren't quite out of danger yet.

They seemed to be in some sort of refugee camp, surrounded by countless other people in similar states of confusion. More breaches were appearing all over the place, as new arrivals were suddenly displaced by either streaks of lightning or blurs of blue and red.

"Um, where are we?" Weiss asked, looking around at all the people.

"I don't know." Blake murmured, noticing that no one familiar was in the crowd. "But this certainly doesn't feel like Atlas."

"It isn't." A female voice caused the four teammates to turn to see a woman in a black spy suit standing in front of them. She looked exhausted and barely holding herself together. "You're on Earth-1, currently the only safe place in the multiverse right now." The woman sighed and looked towards the sky. "Though I guess, safety is relative right now."

"Can you back up?" Yang shook her head. "What happened? Why are we?"

"Right, I guess there's no easy way to say this." Alex Danvers shook her head and sighed again. "Countless other universes are falling as we speak. Your world was just annihilated by anti-matter. And I'm afraid... you four were the only survivors."

Silence gripped Team RWBY as the ramifications of what this woman said sunk in. Ruby didn't want to believe it, but what they had just seen, what had just happened...

"Oscar." Ruby fell to her knees as she looked up at Alex. "Jaune, Nora, Ren, Uncle Qrow..."

"Everyone at Atlas." Weiss whispered, horrified.

"Everyone in the entire world." Blake could only add in shock.

"They're... they're all gone?" Yang asked pitifully, desperately hoping this was some sick joke. Alex looked at them all in sympathy.

"I'm so sorry."

There was nothing else to say.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, that was kind of an abrupt ending, but accurate. And obviously, things get worse before they get better. As in, everyone on Earth-1 dies and only eight people survive the multiverse. Good news is it gets restarted, so that's a plus.
> 
> Again, sorry for the kinda abrupt chapter, but I just felt like adding this to this collection. After all, it would be kinda impossible for Remnant to ignore the Crisis, given the Anti-Monitor's desire to wipe out everyone.


End file.
